12 pains of Christmas
by KagomeGirl92
Summary: Based on the song with the same title. All the characters try to cope with the things they hate about Christmas, but when you have the one you love to comfort you, they find those things aren't so bad after all. Shonen- and Shojo-ai! Dry shouts side-story
1. Finding a Christmas tree

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This is set in my _Dry shouts_ future universes. If you haven't read it, the only things you really need to know is that Yami was the one who solved the Millennium Puzzle, releasing Atemu's spirit sealed inside it and that Yami is dating his childhood friend Yuugi. Everyone in the gang also have counterparts in Atemu's past, including Yuugi, who was his husband Heba.

If you have read _Dry shouts_, here's some stuff for you: Atemu gained his own body after his duel with Marik, and is at the moment living with Yami and Akunamkanon. He also works in a bookstore part-time because he was getting bored at the house when Yami was at school. He is planning to stay for a while because he knows that's what Yami wants (Yami cares for Atemu in a brotherly level), and partly it's what he wants too. But he's still in a bit of a pain for not being able to be with his loved ones. He's not yet sure when he'll leave for the afterlife.

Well, that's about it. The rest of the notes will be in the chapters themselves.

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Notes about this chapter: Haruka is Yami's mom, who died when Yami was four years old, to an illness. After that, Yami and Akunamkanon moved to Japan from Egypt where they had previously lived, since that was Haruka's original homeland and they both already knew the language through her.

Warnings: Err…AkunamkanonxOC?

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**Finding a Christmas tree: Akunamkanon**

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As the Christmas time was nearing, Yami and Akunamkanon had both agreed that it was time to take out their fake Christmas tree from the attic. However, as it had turned out, it seemed that Atemu had been cleaning up there one day when both of the other two men living in the Amun household had been away, and since he hadn't known what a Christmas tree (fake or real) had been, he hadn't known it shouldn't be chopped into smaller pieces so that it would fit in the boxes where all the other things in the attic were stored in.

Which was exactly why Akunamkanon Amun was at the moment driving with his car through Domino City, trying to find another Christmas tree (fake or real) to replace the old one. A Christmas tree was absolutely necessary this one particular year, since Yami had come up with the idea of having a Christmas Party for his lover, friends, rivals and acquaintances at their house on the Christmas Eve. Akuamkanon had agreed it was a good idea, feeling happy about Yami finally having some more social life instead of locking himself up inside his room or Yuugi's house for the entire day, playing games. The fact that Yami at last spent more time with people than games was a sign he was slowly getting over Haruka's death.

Haruka…Akunamkanon briefly frowned as he remembered his beloved wife. Haruka had always loved the Christmas season, but back in Egypt, she had always missed the snow and the Christmas trees from back her original home. So in order to cheer her up, he had taken a day off and decorated their garden with a lot of cotton and made a palm tree growing there their substitute Christmas tree. He still remembered the look on her face. The childishly excited gleam in her eyes, her wide smile and cheery laughter at his efforts.

That memory was why he always felt a slight sting in his heart every time this season was going on, and especially when it was time to take out the Christmas tree. Besides, he was really having trouble finding one. With this season and all, everyone were buying them so the stores and the people who got a small business out of chopping down trees from the forests and selling them, were starting to run out of trees. Of course there _were_ trees, but they just didn't exactly match his expectations. A Christmas tree had to be bushy, thick and with a strong beam. The only ones he'd found had been filmy, thin and with a weak beam.

Deep in these thoughts, the tanned man didn't notice he was barely paying attention to his driving, though that didn't really matter as the streets were empty. But then suddenly he noticed a form walking across the street and he quickly kicked down to the brakes with his foot. The form walking across the street also seemed to notice how close they were to be hit, as they shielded their head with their arms. Akunamkanon thankfully managed to stop his car just in time, though.

"Excuse me, are you all right?" Akunamkanon asked, slowly stepping out his car. He felt like he needed to make sure.

The form unshielded their arms from over their head, and Akunamkanon was able to see she was a woman. He could barely see her face in the darkness of the night, since there wasn't even much snow to reflect the streetlights, but he could make out the bright and sharp yet wide and somehow soft azure eyes. The darkness wasn't the only thing making it hard to see the woman's face, though. Her lower face was covered with a scarf and her hair with the hood of her knee-long white coat. The pants she wore were also purely white, and so were her gloves and boots. She was rather short and lithe, as well as pretty thin, but overall fairly pretty, as much as you could tell from merely her eyes and form. But still, Akunamkanon thought to himself, if he'd been about twenty years younger and had never met Haruka, he probably would've made a move on her. The woman seemed to be in her early thirties. And in her hand she carried the most beautiful Christmas tree he'd ever seen.

"Yes, I'm fine. Thanks for asking." The woman answered softly, her voice slightly muffled through her scarf. It really made the Egyptian man wonder why she wore it. It wasn't _that_ cold out here. "What are you doing around here this late, sir, if you don't mind me asking?"

For some reason, he found himself not minding it at all. He only found himself loving the sound of her voice. "I'm just looking for a Christmas tree since our old fake one broke, and we really need one this year as my son is having a party for his friends."

The woman's eyes softened. "That is sweet of you." Akunamkanon found his cheeks feeling a bit hotter and immediately mentally kicked himself for that. This woman was young enough to be his daughter for heaven's sake! But then he noticed the woman's eyes smiling at him, before she took a glance sideways at the tree she was carrying. "Tell you what, why don't you take my tree here as a thank you for not hitting me with your car."

Akunamkanon's eyes widened. "B-but don't you need it for yourself, miss?" He asked rapidly. "And that isn't really a reason to thank anyone, I should've been paying more attention to the road."

The woman chuckled. Her laughter was soft and sweet, and it reminded him of his wife's. "I don't need it. I've been selling these trees all day and this the last one that was left over. I won't be needing a Christmas tree of my own this year since I've been selling them in order to go away for Christmas, so…" she paused to take a breath. "I've anyway earned enough today to pay for my trip, so I can as well give this up to you free of charge. You seem to have a sincere reason to want a tree. Just promise me you'll take good care of it, alright?"

"O-of course! Thank you very much!" Akunamkanon exclaimed in surprise, though he had to subconsciously wonder why no one had wanted such a beautiful and bushy tree. The world was apparently unfair even for trees.

The woman helped him to put the tree on the roof of his car and attach it there with ropes.

"Well, I better be going before my son gets worried." Akunamkanon murmured both to himself and the woman, feeling almost disappointed he'd probably see her ever again. He hadn't felt this way about anyone since Haruka…

The woman's eyes smiled at him. "Yes, maybe you should. I need to get going too." She began walking past him as he opened the door of his car. But just when he was about to step inside it, the woman's lips passed by his ear and he heard her whisper: "Send Yami my love. Merry Christmas, Akunam-kun."

Akunamkanon's eyes widened. The only one who had ever called him that was…

He abruptly turned around, and yelled: "Haruka!"

Only to find that the woman was already gone and nowhere to be seen. It was like she had vanished into thin air.

-

A few moments later, the Egyptian man entered his house and the spicy scent of freshly baked Christmas cookies filled his nose and the warmth his cheeks. "I'm home!"

Yami's spiky-haired head peaked out of the kitchen doorway. "I was starting to get worried. What took you so long?"

"I had a bit of a trouble finding a tree." His father replied as he started taking off his coat.

"Well, apparently it was worth the trouble; that tree is gorgeous!" Yami exclaimed, taking a look at it.

Akunamkanon only smiled at his teenage son and walked into the kitchen, where he found Atemu in his light yellow apron that read in the front: "Who says men can't cook?". He and Yami had bought it for him as a half-joke when they'd noticed how much Atemu liked housework and especially cookery and baking.

"Welcome back." The tanned not-so-much-of-a-youth smiled up at him. Since Atemu had come to live with him and Yami, his at first pale skin had for one reason or another, gone back to the way the ancient Pharaoh told it had been back when he'd been alive.

"Thanks." Akunamkanon replied, smiling also as he took a cookie from the bowl they were in. It was still warm, so it was easy to conclude they'd just been baked. He was about to take a bite of the cookie when he stopped. "Yami didn't have a part in making these, did he?" Despite being otherwise smart, Yami was a _horrible _cook. If you let him in the kitchen things usually had a habit of exploding or tasting horrid. Or both.

"Very funny." Yami spoke, entering the kitchen also. "But no. I only watched Atemu bake them."

Relieved and even encouraged, Akunamkanon finally took a bite of the cookie. It was as good as Atemu's regular cookies.

But then he remembered he had needed to say something to his son. "Oh, Yami, your mother sends her love."

Yami merely stared at him dumbfounded, cocking his head to his side.

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Whee! I got this started! I'm trying to make the twelve chapters based on the song up by the 23rd, and the extra one of the Christmas Party on the 24th.

Next is rigging up the Christmas lights, which I think will be a bit shorter than this one.

I need some idea-help for "Finding parking spaces", "Batteries not included" and "Stale TV specials"!

And LeShie, if you're reading this: I'm sorry but I have to post this one unabated, as the schedule is pretty tight.

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	2. Rigging up the lights

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Notes about this chapter: Seto and Jou are engaged and Jou is living with him and Mokuba.

Warnings: Puppyshipping

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**Rigging up the lights: Seto**

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Okay, this was starting to get irritating.

You see, while his sweet Katsuya was out doing his Christmas shopping and Mokuba was hanging out with his friends, Seto had decided he'd surprise the two of them by rigging up the colourful Christmas lights to the Kaiba mansion. Well, the lowest floor of it at least. The servants were doing the rest, since the mansion was so big. But Seto's father – meaning his _real_ father, not Gouzaburou by any means possible – had once told him that rigging up the Christmas lights brought good luck, so Seto had decided he'd do at least a part of it on his own.

Just one problem: it wasn't exactly being very easy.

He had managed to get them up just fine, but when he'd lit them, he had noticed a few of the light bulbs weren't working.

So, he'd looked for some spare ones. He'd found them too, without any particular sorts of trouble.

But when he'd switched the light bulbs, _that's_ when the problems had started. He'd changed the not-lighting bulbs to the spare ones, making sure the colours were in the right places in the row. He was a well-organised person after all. But when he'd lit the light again, they had all only been in full light for a while. A moment later, all the other lights but the ones he'd just changed went out.

And so, he had needed to take the lights down in order to change the rest of the bulbs. Thankfully, for some strange reason, they had enough colourful light bulbs to change all that had went out.

But for one reason or another, Seto had apparently been so occupied with changing the lights that he'd somehow got messed into the electric cable, and was tangled up so badly in it that he couldn't get it off of himself anymore. He had thought about yelling for help from the servants, but he had decided against it. This was a very humiliating position for him to be in, and he didn't want his employees to see him like this.

So, the only choice left for him was to wait for Katsuya or Mokuba to come home. He really hoped Mokuba would be the first one to come, since this was a really humiliating position for him to be seen even by Katsuya, but really, he knew better than that. Mokuba would be out for hours, but Jou was an impatient shopper and would most likely be home any minute now.

Like on a cue, just that moment Seto heard the front door open and close, and his betrothed's voice ringing through, calling cheerfully: _"I'm home, Seto!"_

"Welcome back, Katsuya." Seto called back to his lover. "Could you come over here for a second?"

_"__Sure. Where are you?"_

"In the living room."

He heard steps, and soon saw the blonde he loved at the living room door. Jou blinked once. Then twice. And stared at him. His lips slowly spread into a grin. And Seto already knew what to expect before his fiancé broke into fits of laughter.

"S-Seto, w-why are you w-wrapped up in Christmas l-lights?" Katsuya managed to speak in between of his chuckles.

Seto felt his cheeks grow just a bit hotter and he looked away from the blonde in slight embarrassment. "I was changing the light bulbs since they went out and I somehow just…ended up like this. Now mind giving me a hand?" He asked a bit sharply.

"Oh, sure." Jou walked closer and slowly managed to untangle Seto from the cable.

"Thanks." Seto mumbled, still a bit embarrassed about the whole deal.

"You're welcome." Katsuya smiled. "But why were you rigging up the lights all by yourself? We could've done it together, or you could've asked the servants." Seto realised Katsuya understood why he hadn't asked for help from anyone else when he'd been tangled up, and couldn't help but smile just a bit at how well the blonde knew him.

But then he replied to the other: "The servants are rigging them up on the other floors. I just wanted to do this one on my own…my father always used to say it brought good luck to rig up the Christmas lights, because 'they are like small rays of hope and wishes'. That's what he said, anyway. Besides, I wanted to surprise you and Mokuba with this."

Jou's brown eyes softened and he smiled. "That's so nice of you." He said as he leaned to wrap his arms around Seto's neck. Seto held him back, burying his right hand into the blonde locks and placing the left one on the smaller man's shoulder blade.

They cuddled there for a while, until Jou pulled back. "So…how about we try putting up those lights together, huh? Maybe this time we'll succeed a bit better." He suggested with a wide grin.

-

A while later, the whole downstairs was filled with the colourful lights and looked much more Christmas-y than just a while ago.

"We did a good job, huh?" Jou spoke, taking a glance to the ceiling and at their work.

"I suppose so." Seto agreed. At least none of the lights had went out this time. And rigging them up had been much more easy when there were two pairs of hands doing it.

Suddenly, Katsuya blinked at something at the ceiling. "Seto, look." He pointed upwards.

Seto looked at where he was pointing, and saw a certain plant with green stem and red berries that came with a little custom.

The mistletoe.

Seto half-smirked. "Mokuba must've put it up there." He said as he went closer to the blonde man and wrapped his arms around the other's slim waist. "How about we act on the custom it brings, hm…?"

Jou blushed just a bit, but had nothing to argue against that suggestion and allowed Seto to passionately kiss him.

As he kept kissing the blonde with everything he had, Seto found himself not being irritated at the Christmas lights anymore at all.

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Aww…right? This could've really been anyone, but Seto just came in my mind first due to a music video from which I learned about this song in the first place XD.

The next is hangovers, which will be a bit longer.

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	3. Hangovers

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Notes about this chapter: Atemu _is_ old enough to drink! He was 18 when he was sealed inside the Puzzle. Though I admit I'm not quite sure if the legal drinking age in Japan is 20 or 18…but pay it no mind, 'kay? Most teens of today usually start drinking when they're like 13 anyway. And I'm speaking from experience here. People in my class did that back in Junior High. Not myself though. The biggest amount that I've touched alcohol was in my confirmation ceremony.

Oh, and Battle City was pretty different. Malik knew about the existence of Marik and they were lovers. However, in order for Malik to be able to live in the light, Marik allowed him to banish him to the shadows. So there ^^;.

Warnings: AtemuxHeba, some mild Puzzleshipping

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**Hangovers: Atemu**

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"Good morning." Atemu greeted sleepily as he entered the kitchen.

The first thing Yami and Akunamkanon noticed about the adopted Amun was that there were heavy and dark rings around his crimson eyes and that his hair was all messed up. He was also ghostly pale under his tanned skin. It didn't take a genius to understand he had been out drinking yesterday night again.

As Atemu had begun learning more and more about the meaning of Christmas, he had slowly started becoming depressed. It seemed the more he learnt, the more depressed he became. At first it hadn't been that bad, he'd just been slightly more quiet and seemingly more dazed off than usually. But then it had got worse to the point Atemu would do nothing for hours but stare out of the window while sighing and knitting things. And eventually it had gone to this point: Atemu had been out drinking the last few nights and every morning he was down with a massive hangover from hell. He wasn't quite used to those unfortunate side-effects of alcohol, as the ones they had had in his time hadn't been strong enough to make him very drunk.

Yami felt guilty about his big brother figure's state, after all he had been the one to tell him about Christmas the most, about its meaning and traditions. But also because he knew why Atemu was so depressed. It was because he knew he wouldn't be able to be with the one he loved on Christmas. He was still stuck in this era thanks to Yami. He couldn't be in the afterlife with his loved ones.

The dark violet-eyed youth sighed softly as he watched Atemu prepare himself some honey-flavoured tea to ease his stomach.

-

Later that day, during the break time at Domino High, Yami's friends were all gathered around his desk and talking about their holiday plans.

"I managed to convince my parents to let Mai stay at our house this Christmas. I hope that if they get to know her a bit better they'll see what there is in our relationship aside from the fact we're both girls…" Anzu was speaking at the moment.

"Good luck with that. I know I've had none…" Honda said to that.

Yuugi slowly trailed off of listening to the brunettes, and instead took a sideways glance to Yami, who hadn't so far said anything. He was just miserably staring down at his desk top.

"Hey, Yami." The small boy began. The taller one looked up. "Is something wrong? You've been awfully quiet today…"

Now everyone else's attention turned to Yami as well. Yami blushed a bit at all the stares, and glanced away sideways. "Well, it's just…Atemu hasn't been doing very well lately."

"How come?" Jou asked.

"Well, he's been kind of depressed. Ever since he learnt that Christmas is the holiday to spend with the ones you love, he's been bummed out, because he can't be with the ones he loves during it. And it doesn't feel fair to me either. Everyone should be able to be with the one they love on Christmas."

"Have you talked about this with him?" Ryou questioned softly.

"No. He'd just deny it all and tell me not to worry. He is like that."

"You're pretty similar then." Anzu teased slightly. Yami's cheeks flushed.

"Still, it's not like we can do anything about it, right?" Yuugi murmured softly, sympathetically for Atemu. "It's not like the dead can come back to life…"

"Actually, they might." They all heard Malik speak up. Since the Ishtars had moved to Japan because of the job offer Ishizu had got in the Domino Museum, the said woman had thought it'd be better if her brother started going to a normal, public school and finally lead a normal teenager's life. And that was exactly what had happened. And, though it had taken a while for everyone to get adjusted to it, Malik had slowly been included to the gang.

"What do you mean?" Yami asked curiously.

"Well, last month some old Egyptian documents were given to my sister to translate. They included some pretty interesting spells. I don't know the exact details about them, but I'm sure if you ask her, she'll be able to tell you more."

"Then let's go to the museum after school!" Jou exclaimed enthusiastically.

-

"Hmm…I see your problem." Ishizu murmured, her chin in her hand in a thoughtful manner.

"So can you help?" Yami asked, sounding almost desperate. He really hated seeing Atemu like that.

"I might be able to. However, the documents say the reason for wanting to summon a person from the afterlife must be very sincere and unselfish one. It might not work if you're only doing this to ease your own guiltiness."

Yami frowned. He knew that was a part of it, but he also knew he just wanted to see Atemu truly happy just once. He wanted Atemu to be able to be with the one he loved during Christmas. "Well, we won't know until we try, right?"

Ishizu smiled at him. "That's true. But there is also that the person summoned won't be able to stay here forever. In other words, that person's time here is going be limited. The dead can't be permanently brought back to life. That goes for the Pharaoh as well."

Something really cold tugged in Yami's heart strings, but he decided not to let it bother him this time. He had already accepted the truth in Ishizu's words, he had since Battle City. Still, he dreaded the day Atemu would eventually have to leave. Losing his mother had destroyed him almost completely from the inside, and he was already afraid of going through that again. That horrible sorrow and the icy pain in his chest…the endless tears.

Still, he supposed this time it'd be a bit different. He had friends now who would no doubt back him up, and a wonderful lover who would lead him back to the light when he would wander in the darkness of sorrow, just like he had done before. The thought of that eased the fear at least a bit.

Ishizu's voice brought him out of his thoughts: "There are a few things I will need to take care of before we can summon the Prince. How about you come back this Sunday? I'm sure I'll be able to get everything ready by then."

"That's fine, Ishizu-san." Yami told her. "One question though."

"Yes?"

"How long will that limited time be, until he has to go back?"

Ishizu shook her head softly. "I'm afraid the documents don't say. I suppose it varies for every person. The gods decide it. But I'm pretty sure we'll know if the summoning is successful."

Yami nodded, and the gang began leaving. Malik decided to walk them out of the museum.

"Wait a moment!" Ishizu's voice stopped them and they turned to look around. "When you come on Sunday, I need to ask you to bring some of your spare clothes. The ones the Prince will be wearing won't be very good for him to wear here and since he won't be staying for long, it would be unnecessary to buy him some. He's about your size, Yami-sama."

"Got it." Everyone said, with Yami murmuring under his breath, something about too many formalities.

They finally reached the door and departed their ways. Yami and Yuugi stayed back, though.

"Malik, I must ask you something." Yuugi stated and the tanned boy blinked down at him in acceptance. "If those documents have been here for several months, why haven't you tried to bring Marik back with them?"

Malik chuckled. "With the way my sister feels about him? Not in seven hells." But then his face turned a bit more serious and he took a glance upwards to the dark, star-lit sky. "And besides…it might not work for me. Wanting to be with him simply because I love him wouldn't be an unselfish enough reason. And anyway, it would only be temporarily. The last separation hurt enough, I don't want to force myself go through that again."

Yami felt his heart wretch.

-

Later, Yami and Yuugi were walking towards their homes together.

"Are you still going to go through with this?" Yuugi suddenly asked.

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Don't give me that Yami, I saw the look on your face when Malik said he wouldn't make himself to meet Marik again just to be separated from him. Besides…" he frowned softly. "is it really right for us to do this kind of decision for Atemu? Are we really doing the right thing? Would he really rather want to have thirty minutes of wonderful than a lifetime of nothing?"

Yami thought about it, considering Yuugi's words carefully for a rather long while.

"If I know him even half as well as I think I do, yes, I think he would." He finally said. "Besides, it's not like it's going to be a 'lifetime' for him. I've always known he probably won't be staying longer than two years at the most…probably not even that."

"And you're okay with that?" Yuugi asked in disbelief.

"Yes and no. I've accepted that day will eventually have to come, and when it does, I'll be happy because he's happy. But losing someone you care about is never something you are 'okay' with. It is going to hurt and sting, but this time I think I'll be able to hold on a bit better."

"And why is that?"

Yami stopped, and out of nowhere hugged the smaller boy. "Because you are here with me, now."

Yuugi blushed against his lover's shoulder, but then smiled and hugged him back tight.

-

The Sunday morning came all too fast. Atemu was once again knitting something while sitting on the Amun living room couch. His head was still aching a bit from the yesterday night's alcohol, though he'd taken some aspirin for it already. But knitting made him feel a bit more peaceful.

He then heard steps coming down the stairs, and soon saw Yami standing at the doorway, holding a cloth bag in his hand that looked rather heavy. "I'm going out for a bit. I'll be back before lunch."

"Okay. Take your time." Atemu sighed softly, feeling more lonely than ever. But he knew he couldn't stop Yami from going. Yami was still alive after all, and young. He needed to live his life fully, just like Atemu always told him to. Atemu couldn't hold his little brother figure back just because he felt lonely.

Yami grinned at him, and left the doorway. Atemu heard him walk away, and the front door open and close. He sighed heavily, and decided to leave the knitting for a while. Maybe a small nap would ease his headache.

-

Sometime later, Yami and the rest of the gang were at the museum. Everyone had brought a lot of spare clothes, except Yuugi since his clothes would probably be too small. Ishizu had led them all in a private room, where she had set up an altar with some scented torches that she now lit. She told everyone to get on their knees and they did. She herself did that as well, setting herself right in front of the altar.

"Oh, the ancient and mighty gods of Egypt, hear my plea!" She spoke to the air and suddenly a wind coming seemingly from nowhere filled the room. "Allow me to bring one soul back from the dead, I beg of you! Please answer this present day Prince's wish for his brother-Pharaoh and bring the Pharaoh's loved one back for a limited time!"

The wind was blowing really hard by now. They all heard a massive voice ringing through the room: _**"My name is Osiris. I am the god of the underworld and control the dead."**_ The voice spoke. It was a deep, yet elegant and very respectable one. _**"Pray tell, young Prince Yami, why is that you wish Pharaoh Atemu's loved one to be brought back? And look up while you say it, so I know you're being honest."**_

Yami did so, rising his head. "Osiris-sama, I merely want to see Atemu happy for once. You might not know it, but there's a holiday called 'Christmas' in this modern culture of ours. It is the holiday to spend with the ones you love. Everyone should have the right to be with their beloved one during Christmas, and Atemu is no exception. In fact, there are a very few people in my option who deserve it more than him."

**_"_**_**I see your honesty in this wish, young prince of today." **_Osiris continued to speak. _**"However, don't you wish this also to ease your own guilty feeling of keeping the Pharaoh here with you?"**_

Yami fought to keep himself from frowning. "That might be true, mighty lord, but…that's just what we humans are like. But I assure you, that that selfish side of my wish comes merely from the fact that I care about Atemu. I don't want to see him in this much pain because of me. If that is being selfish, I can't help it."

**_"_**_**You've been sincere with me, young prince. You didn't deny your selfishness like most humans usually do. You weren't falsely defensive about it. I'm very satisfied with you." **_There was a smile in Osiris' voice. _**"Your wish shall be granted. The Prince can be with you until the end of this year. He will disappear the moment the year changes for you. Make sure the Pharaoh understands this and uses the time they have wisely."**_

The smoke that came from the torches somehow began tangling together and slowly began getting mixed with a blinding light came from nowhere in particular. Everyone were forced to shield their eyes.

When they were able to look again, the first thing they saw was a young softly tanned and wild-haired boy lying on his back on the floor, and dressed very strangely.

The boy blinked his violet eyes that were rather cold in colour. "Where am I?"

-

Atemu heard the door open and close once more, which woke him up from his nap. _"I'm home, Atemu!"_ Yami's voice rang through.

"Welcome back…" Atemu murmured a bit sleepily and rubbed his eyes. He heard several steps approaching, so he was able to conclude Yami hadn't come alone. Sure enough, at the doorway with his little brother figure stood most of Yami's friends and Yuugi.

"Atemu, we have a little surprise for you. Something really special for you for Christmas." Yami said, grinning and sounding excited. "Everyone should be able to be with the one they love on Christmas, so…we felt there was no better present to give you." He looked over his shoulder. Atemu heard steps.

When the one who produced the steps came to his view at the doorway, Atemu couldn't believe his eyes.

"Heba?"

The boy nodded, blushing just a bit and looking kind of shy. "Yes, beloved. It's me." For a while, Atemu could do nothing but stare. "Don't worry, this isn't a dream. These people apparently care enough about you to try and bring me back for this holiday of theirs. I'll be staying for a little less than a month."

Atemu still couldn't believe this wasn't a dream, so he pinched himself just in case. It hurt. And he was still awake.

He stared again for a while, but only for a while. After that while was gone, he rushed through the room and pulled Heba tight into his arms.

"It's you…oh, Desert Flower, it's really you…" Atemu murmured into Heba's shoulder in Ancient Egyptian, starting to cry. Heba's grip around him was just as strong as his own.

"Yes, it's me, beloved…I'm here. Right here…" Heba murmured back in the same language.

They stood there hugging for a while, until Atemu loosened his grip, but left his arms around Heba's waist loosely. He said something in Ancient Egyptian that the gang didn't understand, but it earned him Heba's nod.

Slowly, the pair let completely go of each other, and Atemu quietly approached Yami. When he reached him, he pulled him into a tight, but merely brotherly loving hug. Yami and Atemu weren't by no means very touchy-feely with each other, but Yami understood this was a very special occasion. This was just the only way Atemu could tell how much he appreciated this. So he hugged Atemu back as tight as he could without hurting him.

"Thank you…little brother." Yami heard Atemu whisper into his ear.

"Anytime, Nii-san." Yami replied.

Atemu slowly let got of him and Yami could see the tears of gratitude and happiness in his warm crimson eyes.

Atemu walked back to Heba, took his face into his hands, and passionately and fully kissed him on the mouth.

Everyone smiled at the sight, though Yuugi also blushed. He always felt like kissing was something private that should be done when no one else was seeing, so…

As if reading his thoughts, Yami quietly whispered to the gang. "Let's go up to my room. Let's let them have some privacy."

And so they did, but Yami very much doubted the two reunited lovers even noticed they'd left.

* * *

Aww…Nothing much else to say about this. I really wanted to maintain the brotherly relationship between Yami and Atemu in this one. But it is not to be taken in a romantic fashion! They are drawn to each other because they are the halves of the same soul, which kind of…ties them together and they feel more content with each other than separated. Or something like that ^^;.

The next is Sending Christmas cards. Don't know yet how long that'll be.

* * *


	4. Sending Christmas cards

* * *

Notes about this chapter: Ryou and Bakura are step-brothers. Ryou's mother was married to Bakura's father. The past tense is because she died in a car crash with their half-sister Amane. They're still lovers, which has something to do with their past lives, but I'm not about to give you any more spoilers than this ;D. Ryou still does call Bakura his big brother because they both look each other as their only remaining family after the accident, since their/Bakura's father is almost never around. Oh, and Fuyuki is their last name in this, it means "winter trees".

Warnings: Tendershipping, some Ryou-angst, OOC Bakura I guess…

* * *

**Sending Christmas cards: Ryou**

* * *

"Today, we're going to make Christmas cards that you can send to your relatives and friends who live further away!" The art teacher of Domino High announced cheerfully, earning quite a bit groans of protest from her students. They were too old for this!

But one boy in the class didn't react like the others. He didn't say anything, just frowned deeply and tried not to cry here in the middle of the class.

Fuyuki Ryou had no relatives or friends living farther who he could send cards to. Or receive cards from.

-

Much later that day, Ryou was in his and Bakura's apartment, playing his flute. Flute-playing always made him feel peaceful and it brought him comfort when his lover/brother wasn't here to give it to him. Bakura had got another detention after school for sleeping in class.

Ryou poured his sorrows into his playing and fell deeply into the world of his music. He loved this content feeling, when he simply felt nothing but his love for playing. These moments he could drown his sadness without shedding any tears. Sometimes, it was the only thing besides his brother that kept him sane.

Focused on his playing, Ryou didn't even notice or hear the door of the apartment open and close, and someone stepping inside. Bakura shed his shoes from his feet and put on his slippers instead, while listening to Ryou's beautiful music that the smaller white-haired boy was producing right in front of his eyes. But on the other hand hearing it made him sad, because Ryou only ever played when he was distressed and/or sad about something. However, he decided to wait until Ryou was finished with his playing until he'd confront the other about it.

Finally, Ryou stopped, and took the flute off his lips with a sigh.

"You play just as beautifully as always." Bakura spoke up to get the smaller one's attention. Ryou looked at him over his shoulder, looking rather alerted.

"Onii-chan! You scared me!"

"Sorry." Bakura chuckled.

"When did you get home?" Ryou then asked, starting to slowly put his flute away.

"Just now." Bakura replied, seating himself on their couch. "So…care to tell me what's wrong?"

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Don't give me that, Ry, when you know I know you better than that. You only ever play when you're feeling down. So tell me, what's happened?"

Ryou hopped next to him on the couch, and nuzzled his cheek against Bakura's chest as the taller white-haired youth pulled his arms around the smaller one's lithe form.

"Today, in the art class…we made Christmas cards." Ryou murmured softly.

"And?"

"And…I guess it just hit me hard that I realised I have no one to send those cards to or receive cards from. I can't even send any to dad because we can never be completely sure where he is…and he's not even coming home for Christmas…" Ryou's voice broke.

Bakura tightened his grip around his lover. He would've gladly killed the old man who he hated enough already for this, not to mention that art teacher of Ryou's, but he knew Ryou would be upset about that, so…He would just have to come up with other ways to comfort Ryou.

It was true they didn't have any relatives, or at least relatives they kept in contact with. Yukiko – Ryou's mother and his own mother-figure, his father's second wife – had once told him that because she had decided to give birth to Ryou when she'd been only a teenager, her old-fashioned family had rejected her. Bakura himself had no relatives. His father hadn't had any siblings and his grandparents were dead already. He hadn't seen or heard about his "real" mother since he had been two, when that woman had left him and his father, so…Not that Bakura had ever longed after his own mother, hell no. Yukiko had been much more of a mother to him than his own ever. She had loved and treated him just like if he had been her own son, instead of just step-son. He, too, had loved her like his own mother. He even called her 'mom'.

But that was pretty much it for their relatives. The second best option would be friends, but Ryou didn't have any back in their old hometowns. They had only used him for their own purposes and then stabbed him in the back while Bakura had tested them in a Shadow Game of Monster World. Though their souls had been released since his battle with Atemu in the same game, it wasn't like Ryou anymore thought of them as his friends…

Then the keyword hit him. 'Atemu'.

"Ry." He spoke softly and the smaller boy looked up, tears still in the bright green eyes. "How about we send those cards you made to your friends here? I mean, they don't have to live far so you can sent some to them, right?"

The look on Ryou's face brightened. "Yes! That's a great idea, Onii-chan! Let's do that!" Then he softened his voice. "Will you help me?"

Bakura chuckled. "Of course. But speak of it to no one." He said as he stood up.

The rest of the evening the two white-haired youths put cards into envelopes, sealed them, put stamps on them and wrote down the addresses and the season's greetings. They would drop them into a mailbox tomorrow on their way to school.

Only one card was left over, but now much happier Ryou said it didn't matter, and told Bakura to just throw it away. One card here or there. But Bakura didn't do so, just put the card on the fridge to be stored in case needed.

-

A few days later, a cheerful Ryou returned home, humming happily. Bakura was once more in detention. But Ryou was happy nevertheless. His friends had all received their cards and had thanked him today for them.

Still…it was kind of sad there wasn't anyone to receive cards from, he thought as he picked up the mail.

When he reached the apartment itself, he looked it through. Bill, bill, advert and…an envelope?

Fuyuki Ryou, it read, but there was no address. So someone had just dropped it there?

Anxiously, Ryou opened it. The envelope stored a dark green, slightly messy card with some Christmas-y stickers on it, among with the lyrics of "We wish you a merry Christmas". Ryou turned the card around and read:

_"__Dear Ryou,_

_I know you really wanted to receive a card too, so I did this for you. I hope you'll like it, even though it's not nearly as good as the ones you made._

_Much love,_

_Bakura"_

Ryou felt tears of happiness crawl into his eyes and he hugged the card against his chest.

Then, he remembered something and went to get it ready.

-

Bakura came home about an hour later, and Ryou presented him the card that had been left over.

_"__Dear Bakura,_

_I really appreciate what you did. I want you to know I appreciate everything you've done for me. You've always been there for me and it often feels like I don't even return the half of the favour. But I just want you to know that I love you more than anything and I'm glad you're here with me. I can't wait to spend this another Christmas together._

_Much love,_

_Ryou"_

Neither one of the two light-haired boys got very much sleep that night.

* * *

Not much dialogue in this one…oh well. It was pretty simple but it makes the best sense that way ^^. Ryou was the one to send Christmas cards in the music video as well, so the idea just kind of…came for me ^^;.

Ryou and Bakura are in a very loving relationship, because I've always been the friend of fluff, so I like my pairings fluffy, thank you very much.

And yes, Ryou plays the flute. I thought that was cute XD. It's kind of a form of a therapy for him, as expressed ^^.

I've always wanted to use the word 'nuzzle' XD.

Next is Five months of bills, that's idea is going to be slightly alerted.

* * *


	5. Five months of bills

* * *

Warnings: Puzzleshipping, hints of AtemuxHeba

* * *

**Five months of bills: Yuugi**

* * *

'Damn it, how could I have been so careless?!' Yuugi, who was walking through the Domino Downtown with a lot of full shopping bags in his hands and arms. He had just been doing his Christmas shopping, buying gifts for his friends and family. He'd taken a short part-time job in a small grocery store in order to have enough money to buy presents for everyone. Everything seemed to have been just fine, he had got a lot of money that he'd believed to be enough, but it turned out not to be after all.

The problem was that Heba had come to the picture. Yuugi had thought that in order to make his tanned look-alike feel welcome, he should get him a present as well. Heba seemed all in all quite nice, but was still rather quiet, at vary and very formal towards everyone but Atemu. But then again that was to expected from everything Atemu had told about him. But still, Yuugi hoped Heba would become his friend before he would have to leave, so he thought a present would be a good way of showing he wanted to be friends. He had believed he'd have enough money to still buy presents to everyone else as well.

How wrong he'd been.

He had managed to get everyone else a present but Yami. He had so much wanted to give him something the older boy would love this Christmas, to answer the favour of how happy Yami had made him in June during his own birthday. Yami's birthday was in March, when he'd turn 17, so Christmas was in-between here. But he only had a couple more hundred yen left, he couldn't buy anything special with that. And the owner of the store he had worked had already left overseas for Christmas to visit his relatives, so he couldn't work there anymore either. Besides, if he didn't buy things now, there probably wouldn't be anything left in the stores when he'd have the money he needed.

_"__Thank you very much!"_ He heard a woman's voice speak, and saw a woman with a short brown hair hand another woman a bouquet of flowers across the street in front of a flower store. He remembered the flowers Yami had given him with the small notes with them, and smiled softly at the memory. He'd stored the flowers in boxes after drying them between book pages, and the notes he kept in his desk drawer so he could always look at them when he was doing something unpleasant, like math homework. The jigsaw puzzle Yami had given him with the flowers was hung on his room's wall, just above his bed (something Jou and Anzu had always found it fun to tease him and Yami about, so he took it away when neither of them was visiting). The stuffed Silent Swordsman he slept with every night.

It felt as if a light bulb had been lit inside his brain. That was it! And the money was just enough too…

-

About a week later, Yuugi was visiting Yami, and the two were kissing while sitting on Yami's bed.

Yami pulled back from Yuugi, his cheeks slightly flushed from the loss of air and panting as he gently stroked Yuugi's cheek lovingly with a tender look in his eyes. "I've missed you so much. It's like we've barely seen each other this week." He murmured, leaning to kiss Yuugi's neck.

Yuugi moaned slightly, blushing as he brought his hands up to Yami's hair, knowing that was one of the older boy's favourite places to be touched. But just when his left hand touched those spiky yet soft locks, it stung and he exclaimed: "Ow!"

Yami quickly pulled back. "What's wrong, Aibou? Did I hurt you?" He asked extremely worriedly.

"N-no, it wasn't you. My hand just…" Before Yuugi had time to finish that sentence, Yami had taken his wrist into a tight grip and was staring down at it. Yuugi's fingers were full of cuts and small twinge-marks.

"Aibou…what happened? Who did this to you?" Though it was kind of weird. Why would someone try and harm just his fingers? And with such small cuts, too?

"No one did this to me, Yami. I kind of did it to myself. Accidentally!" He added hastily after seeing the look on Yami's face. "I've been sewing something lately and I'm not very good at it, so…I tend to sting myself with the needles." He left unmentioned he was sewing that something for Yami. That would cause the taller boy to tell him to stop doing that this minute if it caused him to get hurt, and he couldn't let that happen. He was going to finish what he had started! He could listen to Yami's lectures about it when he had given him the thing he was sewing.

Yami smiled softly. "Is that what you've been doing lately? Is that what has kept you so busy?" Yuugi nodded. "But why didn't you ask for anyone's help if you knew you're not good at sewing? I know certain someone living under this very same room who could help you…"

Yuugi frowned, blushing. "I just…I don't want to bother him. I mean, Heba has just come back and I'm sure Atemu wants to be with him as much as possible right now…"

"Still, you could've asked. I won't mind helping you at all." They heard a deep voice from the door, and looked up to see Atemu and Heba standing there. "We're back." Atemu had been taking Heba out a lot to see the modern world. This time they'd been to have some ice cream, if Yami recalled correctly. There had been a bit of explaining in the Amun household when Akunamkanon had found out they'd be storing another should-be-dead person at their house for the rest of the December, but after it was made clear Heba would be staying with Atemu in the guest room – and had even made Atemu's bed larger with magic so they both could sleep in it – he had accepted it. After all, he probably knew what it was like to want to be with your spouse on Christmas. Atemu then looked down at Heba. "You won't mind either, will you?"

Heba shook his head. "Of course not. In fact, I can come too. That is, if Yuugi-san doesn't mind." He said in a completely understandable Japanese.

"Of course I won't." Yuugi smiled at him. "So will you help me, Atemu?"

"Wasn't that already agreed or what?" Atemu chuckled. "Say, is it okay if I come over to your house tomorrow, then? I'm not working then."

-

And so it was agreed. Yuugi suspected Atemu had somehow guessed he was making this for Yami, as Yami was working today in the Game Shop and therefore wouldn't be able to see what they were doing.

But either way, like agreed, Yuugi led Atemu and Heba up to his room, and took a box from under his bed, taking his current progress out.

"A doll?" Atemu asked, stating the obvious. In the box was a half-arm sized beginning of a doll. The form was already becoming nicely, but there were still a few places unsewed. Under it were many cloths in many different shades of purple.

Yuugi nodded. "Yeah. Yami gave me this-" he motioned to the Silent Swordsman doll. "for my last birthday, so I'm making him his favourite Duel Monster, the Black Magician."

"Why didn't you just buy one?"

"I didn't have enough money for more than the sewing materials. Besides, it'll be more meaningful if I've made it myself, don't you think? Even though Yami will probably say I should've left him without a gift if giving him one meant hurting myself…"

Atemu laughed. Heba for his matter sat down on Yuugi's bed and reached to take the Silent Swordsman plushie into his lap. He stared down at it fondly but still somehow sorrowfully. But why was that, was his own business, so Yuugi didn't ask.

"Well, let us begin then, shall we?" Atemu said, clapping his hands together with a grin on his face. "First, when you begin sewing, put a thimble on your fingers…"

-

A few hours later, they'd made quite a progress together. They'd even moved on to the clothes for the doll. Atemu had now went downstairs to prepare them some tea, and left Heba and Yuugi by themselves. The ancient boy was still holding the Silent Swordsman in his hands with a sorrowful look in his eyes. The silence in the room was awkward, at least for Yuugi. Heba seemed content enough, though.

"Hey…" Yuugi decided to break it.

"Did Yami-san make that for you?" Heba interrupted him, pointing at the wall where the jigsaw puzzle was hanging.

"Huh? Oh, yeah he did. It was a birthday present last summer for me, too."

Heba smiled a bit. "He had a sweet way of confessing to you." He said as he gazed up to the puzzle.

"You…can read it?"

"I can because you can." Heba answered simply.

"Ah…how did Atemu confess to you? Or did you confess to him?" Yuugi asked, trying to make a conversation.

Heba snorted somewhat dryly. "Not in my wildest dreams that time. I was only a servant, Atemu was the crown prince. I didn't think I stood even a chance. Even if Atemu would've liked guys, why would he have gone for me? There were so many better ones to choose from…" he trailed off for a moment. "But to answer to your question, he confessed to me on my birthday too. He had prepared me a small party, just us and our friends. Later that night, he took me to his private gardens and that's where he confessed to me, at sunset. I couldn't believe my ears, I can tell you that." He shook his head as if to confirm his point. "His love also woke my magic powers, so I was able to move into a higher rank as a magician student. I became a prince a year later when we married…"

Yuugi didn't comment on the fact Atemu had told him Heba had come into his powers when he'd been 12. After all 13 had been a very normal age for Ancient Egyptians to marry.

Heba then suddenly chuckled. "I'm sorry. You only asked me a simple question, not my life-story. I must be boring you."

"Not at all. I'm…honoured you would tell me such things." He paused. "I'd also like to thank you…in hard times you've always made me believe in myself again…"

"Huh? What are you talking about?"

"What? That wasn't you who spoke me through my head? But I'm positive it was your voice…"

Heba smiled softly, closing his eyes. "It must have been the last part of my soul that you've been hearing."

"The last part? You mean…there is one more than you and me?"

Heba nodded. "It is tied into Atemu's tomb, and he guards it. I never trusted that Atemu would be guarded for all eternity very well, until his return – which I by the way saw in a vision and predicted – so I put a part of myself into the tomb where the Millennium Puzzle was to be kept in. It would guard that place from robbers, curse them if needed. People have always eventually forgotten the great kings and their protection, and I knew Atemu wouldn't be an exception. That's why I did what I did. That soul has been stuck there for the past 3000 years. He can't leave the tomb until Atemu moves to the afterlife. Then he'll find peace and we'll become one once more."

"You speak of that part like a whole other person."

Heba frowned. "We've, how do you say it…'grown apart from each other' during these past 3000 years. When I was still alive we were able to exchange and therefore share our memories, but that connection broke when this part of my soul died. When we'll join again, I'll probably get his memories again and he'll get mine…"

"Then how could you be sure that part of your soul wouldn't be bitter to be stuck in a tomb for so long?"

Heba shook his head. "If there is one thing for sure, it's that all parts of my soul love some part of Atemu. You too, who love the half of Atemu's soul that has become Yami-san. We love him, more than anything or anyone else in this world. Also, my soul is lonely. We've always been lonely, except with him. All the sacrifices I did for him were because I didn't want him to be alone wherever he went. I know what loneliness is like, after all. I was that all of my life except with him…" he paused. "But I must ask you not to tell Atemu about this. Parting your soul is under any circumstances a very dangerous and difficult magic and I was still just a student back when I did it…if I had failed, it might've meant something even worse than death for me. Not that death is very bad, far from it actually. But still, I don't want him to feel guilty about the fact I put myself into such a severe danger just for him."

"I understand. I won't say anything." Yuugi vowed, knowing exactly how Heba felt. If it had been him and Yami, he would've done the same. In both splitting his soul to be with him and not telling him it had all been for his sake.

Just then, they heard steps walking up the stairs and soon saw Atemu coming back to the room with the tea tray.

-

Another week later, the Black Magician doll was finished. It looked pretty good, for a hand-made one. Yuugi stared down at it with a proud smile.

Heba walked to him. "Can I have it for a moment?" He asked softly, his voice sounding a bit cracking.

Yuugi nodded, though confused, and gave the doll to Heba. The tanned boy hugged it to his chest, and to Yuugi's big surprise, fell onto his knees in tears, murmuring: "I'm so sorry, Teacher…so very sorry." shakily.

Atemu sat down on his knees as well and pulled Heba into his arms as he cried, and Yuugi could do nothing but stare in wonder and confusion. But as he watched Heba cry, it felt as if this was first time the tanned boy had showed him his true face.

He'd give the plushie to Yami at the Amun Christmas Party.

* * *

Errr…This chapter was a bit besides its point, but you don't mind, do you? ^^;.

I know giving Yami a doll is a bit girly, but let's just say he likes everything related to Black Magician and leave it like that XD. And everything Yuugi does for him as well.

Next is Facing my in-laws.

* * *


	6. Facing my inlaws

* * *

Notes about this chapter: Mai and Anzu began dating after Duelist Kingdom, but they mostly have a distance-relationship, as Mai is still free as the wind and can't stay in the same place for a long time.

Warnings: Danceshipping, homophobic parents, some girl-on-girl sexual stuff (nothing too graphic, though).

Now I know some of you might not like Danceshipping, but this is my story and I'll do what I want with it. Sorry ^^;.

* * *

**Facing my in-laws: Mai**

**

* * *

  
**

In the awkward silence, Mai slowly put her fork into her mouth and kept it there as long as she just could without it looking suspicious, because it felt like a crime to break this silence with the sounds her knife made when she'd cut her stake.

Across the table from her sat her girlfriend's parents, Mazaki Osamu and Noriko.

Mazaki Osamu was a tall and built man in his yearly forties, with short black hair and thin azure eyes – the exact same colour as her Anzu's. He was wearing a black suit with a tie that matched his eyes. All in all, his complete appearance said: 'You better not mess with me'. A part of lawyer's job description, Mai supposed.

Mazaki Noriko was a thin but tall enough woman in her mid-thirties. Her small bird-hips and rather flat chest made Mai think about two things – where had Anzu inherited her beautiful curves from if not from her mother, and that this had to be why Anzu was an only child. She couldn't imagine the pain of giving birth with those hips.

Aside from her body, Anzu was the splitting image of her mother. They had the same brown hair, though the mother had it longer and pulled into a thick bun, the same face- and eye-shape, though Mrs Mazaki's eyes were brown and not blue like her daughter's. And Mai certainly couldn't imagine such a sharp look aimed at her in her girlfriend's eyes either. She'd seen Anzu annoyed and even angry, sure, but never glaring so coldly like that. Noriko wore a deep blue dress with no sleeves. All Mai really knew about the woman was that she was a doctor in a big hospital and hated her guts. And so did Anzu's father.

She would've liked to think it was the fact she was so much older than Anzu that they didn't like about their relationship, or that she was nearly always away, making Anzu grieve due her absence, but she knew better than that – though surely those things didn't make them like it more either. It was because she and Anzu were both girls that they didn't like it. They were so old-fashioned. Mai had dated girls since she had been younger than Anzu was now, though some guys as well. But then again, what did she knew? She had never had a chance to introduce her girlfriends to her parents, because they had died when she'd been really young.

She heard Anzu sigh a bit beside her, and turned to see her staring miserably at her food, not having eaten almost anything. Her stomach probably couldn't handle all this intensity. Anzu wore a sleeveless dark green turtleneck dress among with the pendant made out of blue crystal hanging from a white ribbon that Mai had sent her for her last birthday. In her ears (though you couldn't see through her thick brown hair), she wore matching earrings; also a gift from Mai. Her lips were for once slightly reddened with light touch of lipstick and her eyelashes thickened and darkened by mascara and lined with ice blue eyeshadow.

In short, she looked even more stunning than usually. Though Mai had to wonder if the Mazaki family always ate so dressed-up during the family dinners or was this a special occasion of some sort?

She herself wore her mascara, purple eyeshadow and red lipstick with pride and as naturally as always, but she'd left her corset-like white shirts and dark purple leather out this time. Instead she had on a dark purple long-sleeved shirt with a V-shaped collar and long white skirt. They were the only clothes she had that didn't show off too much skin, and were clean and entire. She wanted to make a good impression to her girlfriend's parents here, not the appearance that she had escaped from a strip-club.

"Anzu dear, why don't you go get and serve the dessert if you're finished?" Noriko suddenly spoke up.

Anzu perked up, obviously happy to get an excuse to leave the room for a while. "Yes, mother!" she said almost a bit too enthusiastically.

"I'll help you." Mai said, starting to stand up, willing to use this excuse as an advantage herself.

Mai followed Anzu to the Mazaki kitchen and watched as the younger girl took out the apple pie from the fridge, starting to cut it into pieces and putting them on plates.

"Your parents are pretty strict, huh sweetie?" Mai asked, leaning towards the cooking table.

"When your father's a lawyer, it tends to be that way." Anzu chuckled. But then her face turned back into a frown. "I'm sorry I made you do this…I should've known this would happen."

"Hey," Mai said softly, comfortingly as she hugged Anzu from behind. "it's okay. Anything for you, my princess."

Anzu blushed. Mai had the tendency to call her that, telling she was as innocent and cute as the fairytale princesses like Cinderella and the Sleeping Beauty. But she would also playfully say that if there was any knights coming to save her from the evil witch that was her, she'd kick their asses to the next fairytale. That always made the brunette girl laugh.

Mai buried her nose in Anzu's hair, sniffing the soft scent of her strawberry-flavoured shampoo. It had been her idea that Anzu would start using a shampoo of such scent, saying that Anzu was like the strawberries: cute and delicious. She mentally laughed as she remembered the look on Anzu's face when she'd said that; the younger girl had blushed like there was no tomorrow. But she'd taken the suggestion to her heart anyway.

As she kept smelling Anzu's hair, Mai found her head leaning downwards without any real meaning for her to put it there. Before she knew it, her lips were on Anzu's neck and she was kissing, licking and sucking on that soft and sensitive skin.

"M-Mai!" Anzu gasped out. "Not now! My parents…!" But her thoughts were interrupted and they went off into the Mai-la-la-land when the blonde woman brought her hand on her round breast, and stroked it. Mai sure knew how to shut a girl up. Her hands were so skilled and gentle and…

"Hands off of my daughter now, you bitch!" Came a masculine voice from the kitchen door, where a raged-looking Mazaki Osamu stood. He had apparently come and see what was taking the dessert so long. Mazaki Noriko soon followed after hearing her husband's scream. After seeing the two girls in such an intimate position, she smacked her both hands on her mouth…and fainted right there.

-

The first thing Anzu's mother had said when she woke up was: "Out of this house, you whore!" at Mai. Though Anzu had yelled back at her for calling the blonde woman in such names, for some reason Mai had agreed to leave. She was packing her things in the guest bedroom where she was staying right now.

"You don't have to go, Mai." Anzu spoke with sadness lacing her voice as she grimly watched Mai pack her clothes into the sack she always took with her to her trips.

"Yes I do. If I stay any longer you will be in trouble too. At least this way your parents will stay in the belief I tried to molest you against your own will. It's better this way, believe me." The blonde answered as she packed the last of her shirts and threw the sack over her shoulder.

"But where are you going to go?" Anzu asked, desperate look in her eyes as she stood herself between Mai and the room's door. "The hotels are pretty full this time of the year."

Mai smiled for the first time this evening. "Don't you already know me better than that?" She asked gently. "I suspected this would happen, so I made a reservation at a hotel nearby. That way I can still be near you through the Christmas season, even if we don't live under the same roof."

"I'll come with you." Anzu half-pleaded.

"No." Mai said shortly as she walked past the brunette and out of the door.

"Why not?!" Anzu shrieked, sounding hurt.

"Don't get me wrong, sweetie. I would love it if you came but in order to make the atmosphere here at your home normal again, you need to stay here at least a few days before you can come. Don't worry, we can still meet. I'll come pick you up everyday at your school. How does that sound?"

"Good, but I'd still rather be with you all the time…"

Mai stopped and turned around to face Anzu with a soft expression on her face. "Me too, Anzu." Now her face turned more serious. "But you must understand this. You're still so young, you still need your parents. Even if it means pretending that I'm a real witch towards you, you mustn't allow them leave you. The world is cruel and harsh to face without your family, Anzu. I _know_."

Anzu's eyes hit the floor. "Yes." She whispered very quietly.

They reached the front door. Mai took her long black coat and white scarf and put them on.

"Well, bye then, my sweet." Mai whispered softly at Anzu. Anzu looked up again and Mai could see tears rolling down on her cheeks. Even like this, with her eyes swollen and red, and her eye make up all smudged up from the tears, Anzu still looked so lovely and beautiful. That moment, Mai wished nothing more than that she could hug the younger girl and tell her how much she really meant to her; that she really did love her and was considering of buying an apartment here at Domino so they could be together…

But Mai knew she couldn't. For one, Anzu's parents might see them. And second, she had sworn to herself when she and Anzu had begun their relationship that she'd never tell Anzu her true feelings. She had always trusted solely on herself, but that wasn't all. She was so much older than Anzu, who wasn't even out of High School yet. And she was so free in a spirit, she wasn't sure she could focus only on one girl at a time. After all, she hadn't been able to before. There were so many forces drawing them apart, and Mai believed eventually something would do just that. When that would happen, she needed to spare Anzu from as much pain as possible. If she thought Mai never really cared for her, the pain of the separation might not be so great.

So, she merely gave Anzu one last glance and stepped out of the Mazaki household front door.

-

Mai had been in her hotel room only for a few hours when someone knocked on its door. She closed off the TV she'd been watching to pass some time, thinking it was the food she'd ordered from the room service.

When she opened the door, the last thing she expected was to see Anzu standing there with an apparently pretty heavy sports bag in her hands. Yet that was exactly what had happened. Anzu was now dressed in her dark red thick coat, some blue jeans and the make up was washed off of her face.

Mai stared at her with her mouth open. For a few minutes, neither one of the girls said anything.

"What are you doing here?" Mai finally asked. "And how did you find out I was here?"

Anzu smiled a bit playfully. "I come all the way up here and that's all you say to me? Aren't you even going to ask me to come inside?"

Mai moved from the doorway, allowing the younger girl to walk past her and to the room. As Mai closed the door, Anzu put her bag down on the floor and took off her coat underneath which she wore a long-sleeved, turtle-necked pink shirt.

"Now, mind answering me?" Mai asked.

"Well, about two minutes after you left, something hit me over the head and I went up to my room to pack up my stuff. That took me about an hour, after which I told my parents that I was going to spend the night at Yuugi's house." The brunette replied as she sat down on the hotel room's king-sized bed. Mai was a friend of luxury and had enough money to stay in fancy places like this one.

"And they were okay with that? After what happened, I thought they'd ground you or something."

Anzu smirked slightly, in a way Mai had never thought it would be possible for such a sweet girl to smirk. "I said that I was still feeling pretty traumatised, and really needed a friend's support that moment. They were very understanding about that fact, as they're too dense to get it inside their heads that I might actually _like _it when you molest me. And I called Yuugi too, and he promised he'd confirm I was there with him if my parents would happen to call there. And make up some reason why I can't come to the phone at the moment if they ask for it."

Mai cocked her head to her side a bit. "I thought Yuugi wouldn't be able lie to save his life."

"Don't let his sweet appearance to mislead you. Yuugi can be a very convincing liar when he wants to be; growing up with someone like Yami does that. Not that he lies very often. It's that which usually makes people falsely think he even can't lie."

There was a moment's silence.

"But how did you know this was where I was?" Mai asked, seating herself next to Anzu, on her right.

The brunette shrugged. "It wasn't that hard. I know you have an expensive taste and there aren't many too fancy hotels near my school, so I only had to check a few before I found out where you were."

"But how come they let you in? And how did you know in which room I was in?"

"I told the people at the reception a little lie that I was here to give you some 'special service'. They seemed to believe me."

Mai could do nothing but stare again for a moment. She'd never thought Anzu could make up such a lie. "But why _did_ you come? I thought I told you to stay at home."

Anzu looked straight at her and…tackled her right there. The power of the tackle was so strong that Mai fell on her back on the bed, and felt her head hit the pillow. Anzu hovered over her, her face and eyes dead serious.

"Mai," She spoke. "Listen to me now. The way my parents treated you was completely unfair when you did nothing but date their daughter. And I've told them that _I_ was the one to take the first step in this relationship by asking you out. I came here because I wanted to be with you. And to tell you that…Mai - even though I hope it'll never have to come to that - if my parents want to make us stop dating permanently, I want you to know that it'll be you I'll still stand by on. Even if they threaten to kick me out or something if we don't stop dating."

Shock filled Mai's eyes. Anzu's words just…they stuck in so deep and touched her. And for the probably first time Mai realised how serious Anzu had been when she'd said those three little yet so significant words to her after Battle City.

Her eyes warm and soft, Mai leaned her head upwards to peck Anzu's lips. The next thing either one of the girls knew was that Mai was now on top of Anzu, and that their lips were in a tight kiss and their hands undressing each other.

-

Much later that night, Mai watched as her lover slept contentedly right besides her as naked as she herself was under the covers. She softly played with the brown locks of hair, being careful not to wake the younger girl up. Anzu looked enchanting in the darkness, the moonlight coming from between the window curtains making her skin look pearly and her hair shining. Mai sighed peacefully.

Her sigh hit Anzu in the face, and the brunette softly stirred and opened her eyes a bit. "Mai?"

"Shh…go back to sleep, love."

Anzu snuggled closer to Mai, and the blonde wrapped her into her arms.

"I love you, Mai." Anzu murmured sleepily.

And that moment, Mai couldn't stop herself. "I love you too, Anzu." Although she wasn't that sure whether the girl had been awake to hear it.

* * *

A bit long, but…sweet, sweet yuri love -^^-.

I made up the names for Anzu's parents. Osamu means "discipline, study" in Japanese and Noriko comes from Japanese words (nori) which means "law, rule", combined with (ko); "child". Both are pretty traditional Japanese names, but at the same time speak for themselves. I wanted to give Anzu's parents names that say: 'you better obey, or else!'.

The description of Anzu's father makes me think of an older Roy Mustang from _Fullmetal Alchemist_ XD.

Ironically enough, I based the appearance of Anzu's mom slightly on my own, although they are nothing alike. My mom is really sweet and nice and all that, though she worries about me a bit too much (but then again, I'm her only child. Sure she worries). But like Anzu's mother, my mom has a very curve-less body and she's rather thin (not unhealthily so, though).

Mai and Anzu's relationship is pretty much my analysis on Polarshipping. There are more forces drawing them apart than pulling them together, even though they both love each other, and therefore their relationship is very complicated in a way. I express those analyses in Mai and Anzu's relationship because I don't really like Polarshipping (no offence to any fans of that pairing. But you were probably able to tell it anyway from by Puppyshippiness).

For some reason I get the feeling I'm better at expressing all the other pairings of _Yu-Gi-Oh!_ better than my OTP of Puzzleshipping XD.

Next is Charities, which I hope will be a bit shorter.

* * *


	7. Charities

* * *

Notes about this chapter: Miho moved away from Domino and to Osaka some months after _Dry shouts_ ended due her father's job. Honda confessed his feelings to her before she left, but as we all know, she didn't respond them. Honda was pretty heartbroken about the whole thing for a while, but after Duelist Kingdom when Otogi arrived, he fell in love with him at first sight. Honda spent most of Battle City trying to get Otogi's attention, and eventually confessed to him after the tournament ended. This time, his feelings were responded, and the two of them are now in a relationship.

* * *

**Charities: Otogi**

* * *

That day had started like any other, when the couple of two guys had gone for a walk through the downtown together. During the Christmas season, the Domino Downtown was simply gorgeous. The whole city was covered in atmospheric and softly shining colourful lights and the window displays with the little elves and Santa Clauses were brilliant. Otogi Ryuuji had been feeling content all morning, his Hiroto's hand in his own – something very rare for him to do in public, as the brunette felt it was damaging to his manly pride – and walking in the brisk winter air that made his cheeks flush.

It hadn't been until they'd walked past a man in a Santa costume, who was ringing the bell in his hand and standing next to a pot, yelling "Help the poor!" to the air. Hiroto had stopped walking, let go of his hand and went to put some coins to the pot, earning a thank you from the Santa-man.

"Why are you wasting your money on something like that?" Ryuuji asked after the brunette came back to him.

Honda blinked slightly, looking a bit taken aback by the question. "Because it's a good and right thing to do?"

"Oh please, with the amount of money they manage to gather from that, they won't probably be able to feed even one poor African village's children this Christmas. And most likely they'll just take the money to themselves anyway." Otogi thought this would be the end of this conversation, and was about to take Hiroto's hand into his own once more, only to have that hand snitched away from his reach.

"How can you say such things?" Honda asked, sounding somewhat hurt and quite angry.

"What's the big deal anyway? I just don't do charities. They've never helped anyone in anything. Do they stop world hunger? No. Do they stop global warming? No-" Just then, his words were interrupted when he was slapped across his face. Hard.

"You idiot!" Honda yelled, seemingly not caring about the stares his loud voice made people give him. "Have you ever considered that although charities might not stop those things completely and permanently right now, they still might be the first step! And people do them out of the good sense of their hearts, not for their own advantage! You fucking insensitive idiot!"

"Why do you care so much anyway?!" Ryuuji began yelling back at his lover. Usually he didn't like raising his voice in public and especially not to Hiroto, but the brunette had damaged his face and that tended to get the best of the dice master.

"Damn jerk! My mother works at the charity ward, remember?!"

So that was it, Otogi thought at the back of his head. Honda felt he had insulted his family; something the brunette never tolerated under any circumstances. But angry as he still was, Otogi spoke before thinking: "Well good for all the poor people in the world then when the charity ward has a worker who would throw her son out of the house for days just because he dates another male!" Hiroto's parents didn't exactly approve of their son's relationship with Otogi, and the Honda family fought about it quite a bit, often resulting that Hiroto was thrown out of the house for a few days.

Honda looked extremely hurt now, and only that moment did Ryuuji realise what he'd said. He slammed his hand on his mouth, but it was already too late as Hiroto turned around and started to walk away. "Wait, Hiroto, I didn't mean it-" Otogi began, but it was too late already. The brunette was already running away, and Ryuuji knew he'd never catch him. Despite being really slim, the black-haired man wasn't very good at running, whereas Honda was known for his running records at the school races.

Ryuuji sighed, frowning. He might as well head home and take care of his cheek that would no doubt bruise. There was no point in continuing this walk alone.

-

Sometime later, Otogi sat on the couch of his apartment home, flipping through the television channels in boredom while holding an ice bag against his sore cheek. Hopefully that would decrease its upcoming swelling.

He finally sighed in defeat, closing off the TV. There was no point in watching anything, when there were too many thoughts running through his head for him to concentrate on that anyway. Instead, he turned to look at his photos that were standing on the wooden coffee table in front of him. There were three of them.

In the first one from right to the left were him and the rest of the gang, posing in front of the Domino High School. It had been taken about a month after Battle City. Yami had suggested in taking it, surprisingly. He'd said it was something all of them could take with them when they'd eventually have to separate to go to different colleges and stuff. Ryuuji guessed it was also because Yami had just realised how short the time Atemu would be staying in this era might be. The tanned man was in the picture as well, his arms around Yami and Yuugi's shoulders, who where also holding each other's hands. He himself stood at the right in the photo, Honda on his left. Jou was next to the brunette and next to him was Kaiba, who the blonde had had to promise the heavens and the Earth, so the tall man would allow himself to be put into the picture. Bakura was next to Kaiba, holding Ryou tight from around the waist and his hand. Next to Ryou was Anzu, who was next to the tri-colour haired trio. Malik wasn't included in the picture because it had been taken before the Ishtars had moved to Domino. But to Ryuuji, that wasn't such a big deal anyway. He didn't know the lavender-eyed young man that well, anyway.

Next to that group-picture was one of him and Hiroto, taken a couple of months back. His own arm was flung around the brunette's shoulders playfully – he had put it there just before the camera had taken the picture, so the other hadn't been able to stop him until it had been too late. Honda looked a bit taken aback by the gesture, looking stupidly adorable, but Ryuuji was careful about never telling him that so his lover wouldn't think he was insulting him.

Next to that one, was one including a slightly younger version of himself and a rather fat yet short man dressed in large-hemmed overalls with upright strips, shoes that's ends pointed upwards, puffy-and-long-sleeved shirt and a ruffled collar. The man's real face was hidden behind a clown mask. His father.

He was the biggest part of the reason Ryuuji didn't like charities. He had been adopted by his father at a very young age, but the only reason he'd adopted him was so that he, his adopted son, could take a revenge on the two men who he felt a big grudge towards to. Or rather, their offsprings. Yami and Yuugi.

He'd fought in a game of Dungeon Dice Monsters against Yami, while poor Yuugi had been tied up to a chair, having to only helplessly watch. Yami was meant to be his first victim, so he'd have the Millennium Puzzle for himself and gain its powers as the ultimate game master. Yuugi would've come next. But nothing of that had gone according to his father's plans. Yami had won against him, the one who had created the game, even with the Millennium Puzzle shattered by his father's hands. The place had been lit in a fire, but thankfully they had all managed to get out of there in time – despite the fact Yami had needed to stay back to complete the Millennium Puzzle once more, since it was attached from its chains on a table inside the building.

He had visited the two tri-colour haired boys in the hospital while they were there – Yami because of his burns and Yuugi because of the head-wound Ryuuji's father had given him to shut him up. He supposed it was due the fact he'd visited them that he'd become their friend. He'd apologised to both of them, and been very surprised when they'd merely smiled at him and shrugged it off like it had been nothing – even Yami.

But onwards to the point why he hated charities. It was that, somehow his father had gone absolutely mad about the fact he hadn't been able to get his revenge, and had been sent to a mental institution, leaving Otogi all alone. He had survived that time, yes, as Dungeon Dice Monsters had sold off well and he'd had more than enough money to take care of himself – but the point was that he had needed to do all that alone. No one had helped him in it, or at least no one from any charities ward. His friends had been very supportive and helpful though. But charities…they hadn't helped him back then, so why would they help anyone else?

-

A few more hours later, the black-haired man had simply become too palled with the silence and the boredom in his home, and had decided to take another walk after all – even if he had to do it alone. And so here he was, walking through the downtown again, observing the window displays and wishing that stupid argument in the morning had never happened. He and Hiroto shouldn't be fighting now – it was the Christmas season!

As if on the cue, something caught his eye nearby. A young brunette man dressed in a dark green thick coat, sitting on a bench with a full sports bag at his feet.

'Hiroto! What the hell is he doing here, sitting in the cold?' Ryuuji wondered in awe, but started approaching the brunette to found out about that.

Soon, he was in front of his lover, who looked up at him. Until now he'd been staring at his feet. "Oh, it's you."

"Hiroto, what are you doing out here in the cold? You're going to catch your death." Otogi spoke, ignoring the piercing tone in Honda's voice. He sat down next to the other on the bench and pulled an arm around him – and was thankful when the brunette didn't shake it off.

"…I got kicked out of the house."

"Another fight?" It wasn't really a question more than a statement. It was pretty easy to guess what the fight had been about, too. If Honda had still been looking upset when he'd returned home, there was no doubt that his parents would've tried to use that to their advantage and try to make their son break up with him.

"Yeah." Hiroto replied shortly.

"Why didn't you go to Jou's or something instead of just staying out here?" Ryuuji asked, wondering how long the brunette had really been here. And he felt guilty knowing it was because of him…if he hadn't lost his tempter like that…

Honda snorted. "The last time was intense enough for my tastes. You know Kaiba hates my guts. He's so damn possessive of Jou: he claims I tried to seduce him in our ancient pasts or something…"

Otogi found nothing to say to that. He was never quite sure how to take in the fact almost all the people he knew had a counterpart in Ancient Egypt and in Atemu's past. It made him feel a bit left out really, although most of his friends couldn't remember anything of those ancient pasts, and if they did, they were mostly just fragments.

They sat there in the silence for a while. But then Ryuuji stood up. "Come on, Hiroto. Let's get back to my place. You can stay there until you are allowed home again." He hoped Honda would understand this was his way of making a peace offering.

Hiroto smirked at him. "I thought you didn't do charities."

Otogi smirked back. "Well, you're an exception."

Honda finally really smiled, stood up, took his bag into one had and Ryuuji's own hand into the other. "I'm sorry I slapped you earlier." He said softly, and with that planted a small kiss on the dice master's bruising cheek – something he very rarely would do in public.

Ryuuji smiled back at him. "I'm sorry too, for saying such things. Now come on, let's go."

Honda allowed the dark-haired boy to lead him away. Everything was fine in Otogi Ryuuji's world again. And for the first time he realised that maybe if he'd asked for some help back that time, he might've got it. Keeping in mind that next time he'd ask before complaining, he tightened his grip around his lover's hand.

* * *

I really do like Chaseshipping ^^. It just…works. I hope I portrayed both of them in character enough.

Otogi's past is based on the manga, as I like that version better than the anime one – wanting to defeat Yuugi just because he defeated Pegasus just seems kind of pointless to me. Most of the anime's plot lines make less sense than the manga's, really. What kind of grudge Otogi's father held against Akunamkanon though, that one I'm keeping a secret XD.

I made Ryuuji to be adopted, because it seemed like he never had a mother and I don't really think that if his father aged 50 years in a single night (which I think would make him around 70-80 years old by then) he could to pick up girls well to bear his children XD.

Has anyone else of you noticed _Yu-Gi-Oh! _is filled with bad fathers?

Next is I want a transformer for Christmas.

* * *


	8. I want a transformer for Christmas

* * *

Notes about this chapter: Femi is Malik's adopted daughter, whom he found on the streets about three months after Battle City. She's got an amnesia and doesn't remember anything about her life before she became Malik's daughter, aside her name. There's no any recorded documents of her either. Since it so far seems that she's an orphan, or at least abandoned, Malik took her in. He was kind of trying to fill the hole in his heart Marik's death had left there. Femi looks a lot like Malik, except that her eyes are indigo-coloured instead of lavender, her hair a lot shorter (just past her ears), and always really ruffled and messed up, despite Ishizu's countless attempts at trying to tame it.

Warnings: Hints of Bronzeshipping, Malik calling Femi with pet names, angst.

* * *

**I want a transformer for Christmas: Malik**

* * *

"Daddy, look!"

Malik blinked softly, and turned to look at where his little daughter was pointing at with her mitten-covered index finger. His eyes hit one of the window displays they were walking past. He'd just picked up the little girl from the day care, and she'd asked him if they could go get some hot chocolate at the city before going home. Not very good at telling no to his little one, Malik had agreed. Besides, he'd been feeling chilly anyway. Honestly, he didn't think he'd ever get used to the winters of Japan.

But getting back to the point. When Malik looked up, what he saw was a very beautiful blonde-haired and green-eyed doll dressed in a Victorian-stylised red dress with lashes and a thick dark pink ribbon tied girlishly around its waist. On top of its head was a brimmed straw hat with a thinner ribbon matching the doll's dress colour surrounding it. The doll had a never-ending smile on its pink lips and cherubic rosy cheeks. All in all, it was awfully cute and lovely doll any little girl would want.

"Yes, it's a very pretty doll, dear." Malik smiled down at Femi.

"Think Santa will bring it to me on Christmas if I wish for it really hard? I've been good this year, haven't I Daddy?"

Malik softly placed his own mitten-covered hand over his daughter's head. "Yes, you've been really good. I'm pretty sure the Santa will bring it to you."

-

That night, when Malik had finished reading a bedtime story about the Santa and his elves to Femi, he quietly stepped out of his daughter's room, closing the door behind him. The Ishtar family lived in a fairly large apartment of four bedrooms for the four people living in it, among with the entrance hall that covered all the other rooms – the kitchen, the living room and the dining room.

"Is she asleep?" Ishizu asked from her brother, peaking her head from the kitchen area.

"Yeah. She always falls asleep in the middle of the story. It's a bit funny actually. She's such a bundle of energy during the day, but at night she sleeps like a rock."

"She needs to draw all that energy from somewhere, I suppose." Ishizu chuckled. She, just like Rishid and Malik himself, completely adored Femi. "I'm making tea. You want some?"

"Sure." Malik replied. Anything to keep him warm. At the sight of his sister disappearing to the kitchen again, Malik followed her there and took his seat around the table. For a moment, neither one of the siblings spoke a word. Then, Malik questioned: "Did Rishid already go to sleep too?"

"Yes. He's got an early waking up tomorrow." His sister answered, as she took out some cups for them.

There was more silence.

Malik broke it again: "Hey, Nee-san…"

"Yeah?"

"Today, when I picked Femi up from the nursery, we went to the city to get some hot chocolate…"

"Yes, you already told me that earlier." Ishizu gently urged him on, this time taking out tea bags.

"Well, we walked past this store window, and there was this really cute doll-"

"No, Malik." Ishizu interrupted him in the middle, rather stern tone in her voice, but still not turning around to look at him. She merely poured the boiled water to the cups and put the tea bags in them.

"You don't even know what I was going to say!" Malik said, making sure to keep his voice down so Femi and Rishid wouldn't wake up.

"Oh, yes I do." Ishizu replied calmly, setting the tea cup in front of her brother and taking her own seat across the table form him. "You want to buy that doll for her for Christmas, right? Malik, we've gone over this. You can't always give Femi what she wants, and besides you've already got her a present, haven't you? We must be careful not to spoil her too much, or it'll corrupt her in the end."

"But…" Malik frowned.

At that sight, Ishizu's eyes softened slightly, and she put a hand over the table onto her brother's shoulder. "I know it's hard for you to say no to her, Malik, I really do. But still, you understand we can't raise her completely carelessly, right? We need to set ourselves boundaries and rules, and to be responsible for her, because she's too young to do that herself yet. You understand that, don't you?"

Malik looked up, but still slightly sad. "Yeah…I do."

-

The next day, the Domino High's last bell rang as the end of the school hours, and Malik was putting on his shoes and winter coat at his locker near the entrance hall.

"Hey, Malik-kun." The tanned blonde looked up, and saw the rest of the gang. Yuugi was the one who had spoken. "We're going to the arcade together. You want to come too?"

"Sorry, I can't." Malik said as he smiled a bit apologetically and started pulling his colourful scarf around his neck. "I have to pick up Femi from the kindergarten today. I promised her."

Yuugi smiled back at him. "It's okay."

"Tell her we said hi." Yami added.

"I will. Well, see you!" Malik told the, as he took his schoolbag into his hand, waved at his friends and left the school building.

Outside, it had begun snowing. Malik loved the snow. It was one of the few things he appreciated about the weather being colder here than in Egypt. It was so pure and beautiful, and white. It wasn't dark. Watching the snow fall from the sky made him feel at peace and it took his mind off of all the bad things.

As he walked, he thought. He had never really figured out what he had done to get such great friends as he had now, especially from the people he'd treated so badly in the past. He'd done so awful things to them, he couldn't believe he had got such heartfelt companions out of them. But he was grateful either way.

All those things…remembering them, he frowned. Marik…another thing why he was grateful that he had friends now. They understood how he felt about Marik not being around anymore. Ishizu and Rishid, as much as they loved him and he them, didn't understand. They couldn't figure out why he still loved the man who had nearly destroyed this world, among with everything Malik himself loved. Sometimes, Malik couldn't even quite understand it himself, but it was just the way things were. He would always love and miss Marik, until his very death day.

Of course, his longing wasn't as bad as it had been, and that was all thanks to Femi. The cheerful and energetic little girl had been the one to really bring the light into his life after Marik. His daughter was everything to Malik, and he loved her so deeply.

It was for that reason he had so much difficulty in saying no to her. But there was also another reason. He himself had been denied so much as a child, when they'd lived underground. He'd hardly had any toys or even time during which he could have played. Most of his life had been needed to dedicate to reading the ancient scriptures left by their ancestors. Rishid had sometimes played a little bit of ball with him when he'd been very little, but since that one time when a snake had bit him while they'd been playing, such things had become completely forbidden by their father.

His father…the man he both hated and loved. The man Marik had killed, because he'd known that deep down that had been what Malik had wished for. The man he had wanted to take a revenge for, the most of all. His feelings for his father were awfully mixed up. But that man was mostly to be blamed whenever Femi was concerned in Malik's life. He wasn't sure at certain situations how a good father should act, as he'd never had one himself to show him that. He had the most troubles denying Femi anything, and punishing her. He wasn't sure what was alright to be denied and what kind of punishment was rightful to give to such a little girl.

During these thoughts, he had reached the Domino Nursery, and now stepped inside the gates surrounding its huge yard. He walked towards the west wing, where the littlest kids were taken care of, and stepped inside the front door. He turned left and walked towards the right door inside, which read "The starlings". That was the name of Femi's day care group. He peaked his head inside from the door.

"You're just the best at drawing, Femi-chan!" A little girl sitting next to his daughter at a table, said. She had short dark brown hair with and cheerful blue eyes. Malik recognised her as Ayumi, one of Femi's little friends. And as he watched his daughter smile at the other girl's compliment, he knew he'd made the right decision in allowing Ishizu to enter Femi into a kindergarten. He had been really worried about giving Femi up to strangers, but it was just like his sister had said: Femi needed to make friends and live a normal three-year-old's life.

"Oh, Malik-kun, are you picking Femi-chan up today?" the blonde then heard a feminine voice from his right, and turned to see one of Femi's group nannies, Asuka. She was a woman in her early forties, with short curly and brown hair, blue eyes behind glasses, among with friendly wrinkles.

"Yes, that would be my intention, Asuka-san." Malik replied, smiling slightly at the older woman. Asuka-san was one of the few people who hadn't judged him for the fact a 16-year-old was raising a three years old girl, and for that Malik was grateful.

"Femi-chan, look who's here." Asuka called out for the little girl, who turned her head and right that moment her face spread into a wide grin.

"Daddy!" She yelled, quickly rose from her seat and hurried to hug her father.

"Hi sweetheart. You ready to go?" Malik questioned as he hugged his daughter back.

"Yeah! I'll just get my drawings!" Femi responded with a bright smile. She rushed back to the table she'd been sitting around, gathered some of the papers on it into her arms and waved Ayumi goodbye. Then, she came back to her father, hugged Asuka goodbye and they left to dress her into her full-body winter suit to the entrance hall.

-

When they were back at their home (Ishizu and Rishid were still at work), Malik had prepared some snacks for them both, and they were now sitting at the table, ready to begin eating.

"So, how was your day today?" Malik asked from the little one sitting across the table from him in her extra-high chair so she could reach the table.

"It was great!" Femi beamed, and Malik smiled himself. In her childish innocence, Femi's opinion of about every day was 'great' or 'awesome'. "Me and Ayumi-chan played with the dolls of the nursery and Yusuke-kun said we were so girly and then Ai-chan said that we were allowed to be, because we _are_ girls and he went all mute at that! Ai-chan is so smart, she always knows what to say! And then we went outside and Yukio-kun threw a snowball at me and then Yuri-chan got mad at him and threw a snowball at _him_ instead and then we were all throwing each other with snowballs and it was so much fun! But then Nanny Sakura came and told we should stop because we might hurt ourselves, and it wasn't nice. Then we sang a song about a spider and went for the nap, and after the nap we drew and coloured some pictures and I helped Midori-chan to cut off her paper doll since she can't cut the corners very well…"

Malik smiled as his daughter continued to babble on and on. Femi loved to draw, and though very young, she already showed quite a big talent in it. Every single day she would bring some pictures back home that she'd drawn at the day care, and she doodled a lot at home, too. Some of her best pictures hung framed on the walls of their apartment.

Finally Femi stopped babbling, and asked instead: "What about your day, Daddy?"

Malik's smile turned a bit more nervous. "It was fine." Actually it hadn't been. The math lesson today had been awfully boring. And so had been literature, mostly because Malik had no idea what the book they were supposed to be reading was saying. He could speak Japanese fluently, but reading it was a whole other thing. He knew the hiragana and the katakana completely, but he had never learnt all the kanji letters, and since they were in high school, the texture there was mostly in kanji. But Femi didn't need to know that, so he decided to change the subject. "What kind of pictures did you draw today?"

Femi smiled again. "They're at the counter, you can look yourself."

And so, Malik rose and went to take the drawings into his hands, starting to look through them. The first one was a simple one of a sunflower and a butterfly flying next to it in the air. The second one was of a princess with a large golden crown filled with rubies and sapphires on top of her head, and wearing a pink dress. These were the typical little girl things that made Malik smile. His daughter was just so…normal. And knowing it made him happy.

But the next picture in turn made him sad. It was obviously a picture of the doll they'd walked past of. He had decided with himself that he'd tell Femi she _might _not get the doll for Christmas, so the disappointment she'd have to go through wouldn't be so bad on the big day. This was Femi's first Christmas – or at least the first one she remembered with her amnesia and all – so Malik wanted it to be as perfect as possible for her. But he decided he'd put telling the girl away as much as possible, so he took a look at the last picture.

What he saw shocked him.

"Femi?"

"Yes, Daddy?"

"What is this?" he showed her the last drawing.

Femi beamed again. "It's me, Daddy and Dad, of course! It's our family!"

Malik frowned as he looked down at the picture once more. He'd told Femi about Marik at secret from Ishizu and Rishid, addressing him as her 'Dad', because if Marik had been here with him when Femi came around, that was what he would've been to her. Besides, it wasn't like Femi would ever have a mother or another father either way, so Malik though it was the best she felt she had both parents despite one of them being missing. Marik just was literally the other part of his soul. Loving someone else after loving someone like that, was pretty much out of the question.

What confused him about the drawing was that he'd never completely described to Femi how Marik looked like. Still, in the picture he looked almost exactly the way Malik remembered him, drawn as well as a three-year-old could. He even had his usual wild hair and the dark cape he'd worn at Battle City. In the picture, he and Marik were on the both sides of Femi, holding her hands, and they were all smiling.

"Sweetie?" Malik addressed and Femi looked up. "Could I have this?"

"Of course, Daddy! I made it for you! Now you can always look at it and remember Dad!"

"Thanks." Malik smiled softly. But then his face turned more serious. It was time to discuss about _that_. "Femi?"

"Yeah?"

"Remember that doll we saw a few days ago at the shop?"

"Yeah! I drew it too, did you see? I'm planning to send that picture to Santa, so he'll know exactly what it looks like and make my wish come true!"

Ouch. That hurt. "Femi…about that." Femi's smile faded at her father's tone, and the look on her face became confused instead. "I'm not sure if the Santa will bring it to you after all."

Now Femi's eyes got filled with fright and shock. "But why?"

"Because Santa Claus is really busy this time of the year." Malik quickly tried to explain without ruining the childish and innocent beliefs Femi had. In order to make his point completely clear, he walked to Femi and lowered himself slightly so their faces were colliding. "You've been really good this year, Femi, but the Santa has so many other things to do that I'm not sure if he'll be able to make such a late wish come true. But I'm sure you'll get a lot of other nice presents."

Even with these words of comfort, the look of disappointment on Femi's face was obvious, and Malik felt his heart breaking a little.

There was a moment's silence.

Finally, Femi spoke up with a broken voice: "If he won't bring me that dolly…will he make my other biggest wish come true?"

Malik blinked. "What wish is that?"

"That Dad would come home for Christmas. I want to meet him."

Her words stuck like a lightning to Malik, because that was what he, too, really wanted for Christmas. But he knew he wouldn't get that. Marik was dead. He was gone…forever, leaving Malik all alone. He loved Femi, Ishizu, Rishid and all his friends, but…it wasn't the same. He wanted to feel Marik's strong arms around himself once more, to have that safe and content feeling of balance in his heart. To know it was alright to be weak, because there was someone stronger who would support him the times he felt vulnerable…and asked nothing in return.

"Daddy? Why are you crying?" Came Femi's soft and confused voice.

Malik hadn't even realised he'd started wailing. But then again, it wasn't so surprising. However, he said nothing as an answer to the toddler, and just pulled her tight into his arms. He heard Femi make some confused noises at his actions, but he just held her tighter, and wept.

-

That night, Malik's sleep was restless. He kept having a nightmare of being in a dark, empty and quiet place, where barely visible black hands and arms kept grabbing and pulling him from all over, and the owners of those hands were all demanding him to give them something precious to him: "Give us your life", "Give us your light", "Give us your body", "Give us your family", "Give us your friends", "Give us your love".

Then suddenly, he hadn't been alone in the darkness anymore, but a small ray of light had appeared in front of him. In that light, stood Femi with a confused expression on her face, asking him where they were and telling him she was scared. He had tried to get to her, but the black arms had stopped him. And then suddenly they were all asking for the same thing: "Give us your child". And just that moment, the black hands had started dragging his little one away, her screaming in fright and agony, and him being unable to do anything to stop her from being taken.

Malik finally bolted up in his bed, waking up and panting, covered in cold sweat. He wiped his forehead with the back of his hand, trying to calm himself, his breathing and his heart down. 'It's alright. It was just a dream. Everything is fine.' He tried to tell himself, but although his heart and breathing were beginning to soothe, his nerves weren't. He couldn't feel comforted in this darkness.

He had always been afraid of the dark. Ironically, he had also fallen in love with that, in a way. But Marik's darkness had been different, to him at least. To him, Marik had always been kind, gentle and loving. And if he had been here now, Malik would be held in his arms and being comforted.

But Marik wasn't here. He was all alone in the darkness, and there was no one to protect him from it.

There was nothing else left to do for him. The only thing that would calm him down now would be seeing that Femi was still here, sleeping in her room and completely alright.

And so, Malik clumsily rose from his bed, left his room and walked to the door next to his own room's. Femi's bedroom had been put right next to his, so she could easily crawl next to him into his bed if she had nightmares. Those had been pretty frequent when Malik had first adopted her. Those dreams, as she had told him, had mostly been about her being stuck in complete emptiness. Malik figured they were caused by her amnesia. Even for such a little girl, who didn't even have many memories yet, it must be awful not to know who you were.

Malik slowly opened Femi's room's door slightly, taking a peek inside. Despite the darkness, he could see the small lump that was his daughter lying in the bed. She was contentedly sleeping on her right side, her face turned towards the wall her bed was standing next to.

Watching her, Malik felt a bit better, but still not soothed enough. So he opened the door a bit more, just enough for himself to slip inside as quietly as possible. He walked silently over to his sleeping daughter, carefully sat besides her on the bed, and softly began running his fingers through the girl's ever-so-messy but soft sandy locks. Being able to touch Femi calmed him down. She was still here. She wasn't going anywhere.

Still, that was probably Malik's worst fear at the moment – Femi going away that is – so it didn't shock him he'd had such a nightmare. He was so afraid that someday, a couple would come at his door and tell him they were Femi's real parents and had come to take her home. He knew that was unlikely, with the lack of Femi's records and the fact he'd found her in a state that clearly told she'd most likely been abandoned. And besides, they were in a different country now too, and with her dark skin, Femi clearly had to be Egyptian. Still, even knowing those things didn't ease this fear of his.

"Daddy?" Came a soft, sleepy voice, and Malik saw that Femi had stirred awake. Her indigo eyes were only half-open, and still pretty sleepy.

"Shh, it's okay honey. Just go back to sleep."

Femi just nodded mildly and snuggled slightly closer to her father's warmth. "I'm sure Santa will bring Dad home…" she murmured, before her breathing evened and she fell asleep once more.

So there was another thing he'd need to tell her Santa couldn't make come true. Ouch. But not now. It was too late night, and he had to go back to bed as well.

-

"Hey, Malik-kun." Malik heard a voice the next day at school, and looked up. Until now, he'd been staring out of the window he was sitting next to. He saw the rest of the gang standing right next to him. He hadn't even noticed they'd come there.

"Yeah?"

"Is something wrong? You've seemed a bit down today." Yami stated.

Malik frowned. "It's just…"

"Yeah?" Yuugi gently encouraged him.

"It's Femi."

"Oh." They probably had guessed it. Whenever Malik had troubles, they usually concerned his daughter.

"So what's the matter?" Ryou asked.

Malik sighed. "About a week ago, I picked her up from the nursery, and we decided to go get some hot chocolate at the city before going home. We walked past a toy shop, and she saw this doll at the store's window. She, of course, wished she'd receive it for Christmas, but Nee-san thinks we need to avoid spoiling Femi too much, so I can't get it for her. And now I don't know what to do, because it feels like I can't make any of her fondest wishes come true…"

"Any of them? There's more, then?" Anzu questioned.

Sadness filled the blonde's eyes momentarily. "She wishes her Dad would be home just this one time for Christmas." And so do I, Malik added silently in his mind.

"Her Dad? You mean Marik?" Jou asked.

"Uh-huh. I've told her some things about him."

"But not that he can't be around cause he's dead?"

"Jou, honestly." Yami spoke up, hands on his hips. "Femi's still just a kid. She's merely three years old. She can't understand what death means, and she shouldn't either. When you're a child, being blissfully ignorant is usually better than knowing the bitter truth and losing your innocence because of it. Or what do you imagine yourself answering if Mokuba or Shizuka ask you where babies come from?"

"…You have a good point."

"I've planned to tell her when she's ten. I think then she'll be old enough to understand." Malik continued, gazing slightly out of the window once more. "But right now she's still just so childish and innocent and sweet and…I don't want to ruin that. That's also why I wish I could make those wishes come true for her. I'm afraid she'll lose her faith otherwise."

"That's understandable. No one's blaming you for it." Yuugi said sympathetically, placing a hand on the tanned boy's shoulder, earning a small smile.

"So what are you planning on doing?" Yami then asked from Malik.  
"I don't know!" The blonde replied, sounding frustrated. "In order to keep Femi in faith, I think I should buy that doll for her, but I feel so guilty about betraying _Nee-san's_ faith in _me_…"

"But you're the one the most responsible of Femi in the end." Yami pointed out. "That's why you must make your decision thinking about her, and not anyone else. As her father, do you think one more present that could possibly make her very happy and save her innocence, is more important than the fact she might get spoiled, with the keyword being _might_. It'll depend fully on the decisions you'll make in the future for her, and how you treat her."

Malik thought about it quietly and hard. Everyone waited in patient but a little intense silence.

Finally, Malik looked up to them with a serious expression. "I think I'll be ready take the risk of it possibly spoiling her."

-

Later that day, when it was snowing again, Malik was walking towards the toy store with his wallet in his hands. He would be meeting Yami and Yuugi in front of the store, as they had offered to come with him so he wouldn't back away at the last minute. The others would've come too, but they all had either had other plans or been otherwise too busy this time.

Deep in these thoughts, Malik didn't even hear or notice that someone was following him, until that someone had rushed right past him, and had grabbed his wallet from his hands.

It took Malik a moment to realise what had happened. But when he did, he quickly began running after the one who had taken his money, yelling: "Hey! Get back here, you thief!" He couldn't see what the stealer looked like exactly, as that person was covered in a long white coat and white pants, had a white hat covering the hair and white gloves the hands. Also, the thief's back was turned to him, so he couldn't see the face. The only thing he knew was that the stealer was most likely a man – that body was almost impossible to be woman's – and was slightly taller than him. "Give back my wallet, you bastard!"

The thief turned to his right when he came next to a space between two houses. Malik turned after him, and noticed he'd come to a dead end.

But the thief was nowhere to be seen.

-

"And he just disappeared?" Yuugi asked, after Malik had come to the toy shop and told the two tri-colour haired boys what had happened.  
"Yeah."

"Did you lose a lot?" Yami questioned.  
Malik shrugged. "Naw, not really. I barely had enough so I could buy that dolly. But that's not really what's bugging me. Now I _really_ can't get Femi that doll." He spoke sadly, frowning.

"Wait a moment. Maybe it's not all lost yet." Yami said, taking out his cell phone and pressed some numbers on it.  
"Who are you calling?" Yuugi tried to ask, but Yami shushed him as he put his phone over his ear.

"Hello, Ryou?" Malik and Yuugi's eyes widened. "Is Bakura there with you?"

…

"And he's been there this past hour?"

…

"You haven't left his side once, or he yours?"

…

"Never mind. Sorry for disturbing you." Yami finished as he took the phone off his ear and pressed its button to end the call.

"No clue, huh?" Malik sighed.

"No, sorry."

"It's not your fault. I should've been more careful."

"Malik-kun, maybe you should look at it this way: maybe this is some kind of sign from the above that they don't want you to buy that doll for Femi?" Yuugi suggested.

"Well, it wouldn't be the weirdest thing that has ever happened to us, would it?" Malik chuckled. "To tell you the truth, I don't think Femi coming to me was a mere coincidence either."

"You don't?" Yami blinked.

"No." Was his reply. "It's just too weird. When I found her on the streets, it was raining, though it barely ever rains in Egypt. She looks so much like me, and there just happens to be no records whatsoever of her, nor does she have any memory of her earlier life either. And, though I'm only sixteen, I still got to adopt her! And get this, the other day, she draw a picture of me, herself and her Dad, and that Dad looked almost exactly like Marik had!"

"Seriously?!" The two others exclaimed out loud.

"Yup." Malik answered. "Don't you think all that is a bit too much for a coincidence?"

"Definitely." They replied. Then, Yami said: "What do you think sent Femi to you then?"

"I don't know." Malik responded, before gazing up to the snowing sky. "But I don't really care either. I'm just glad I have her."

-

A few more days later, Malik once more picked Femi up from the nursery, and the little girl had some new drawings with her.

"I'm going to give these to Dad when he comes home." Femi giggled with a bright smile, walking besides her father.

"Femi, about that." Malik put in, as he stopped walking and crouched next to the little girl. He put his hands on her tiny shoulders and made her look straight into his eyes. "Femi, your Dad is unable to come home. He won't be able to come here, not now, not ever." He gulped down the tears and the guiltiness he felt when Femi's eyes once more got filled with even greater disappointment than when he'd told her she wouldn't be getting that doll. "I can't explain to you quite yet _why _he can't come, sweetie, but you must remember this: your Dad loves us. He would be here if he could, but he can't. But I'm sure if you sent your drawings to the wind, it'll carry them to him."

Femi looked up from her frown. "But the reason Dad isn't here isn't because he doesn't like me?"

"No, of course not sweetheart." Malik responded, hardly believing Femi could even think such manners, as he pulled her into a hug. "You're a very lovely girl, Femi. Your Dad and I both love you, and so do your Aunts and Uncles. So, please understand. Your Dad would be here if he could, but he just can't. It's not your fault."

They departed from a hug. Malik could once more see the innocence and faith in Femi's eyes, but there was something new as well. Relief. "Daddy?"

"Hm?"

"Do you think Santa will bring me new crayons? My old ones are getting kind of small and hard to draw with."

Now it was Malik's turn to smile. The present he'd got for Femi were new crayons, among with pencils and more drawing paper, because he'd noticed the old ones had been used so efficiently that they were starting to get too short to colour with. "I'm sure, sweetie. About that, I'm completely sure."

* * *

He hee, surprised you with who this was, didn't I? XD. But Mokuba just isn't that kind of bratty child to fit this chapter (neither is Femi, but this chapter wasn't really implying that anyway).

I hope none of you will slaughter me for using an OC in this ^^;. But the idea was just too perfect in my mind to ignore. So sorry!

The idea of Femi came after I read _Family Life with the Ishtars_ by **Itavita**, although in that one Malik and Marik had a son, Sei, instead of a daughter. But for some reason I decided to give Malik a daughter anyway. Femi's name means "love" in Ancient Egyptian, by the way. It was the name of Malik and Ishizu's mother in another story of mine, although I never got far enough with it to reveal that. And Femi will MUCH later have two adopted little brothers too, Chike and Sefu.

I freaking LOVE Malik. Seriously. He's one of my favourite characters in _Yu-Gi-Oh!_. His character is so deep and it makes him so interesting. Under all the evilness of Battle City, there is just a wrongly treated child. And I freaking hate Mr. Ishtar for the treatment he gave Malik as a kid!

Malik fearing the dark is canon, it's stated in the manga. So there.

This was PAIN. It's. Too. Long!

Next is Stale TV specials. That's right, I've decided I'll be skipping Finding parking spaces and Batteries not included, because the schedule is too tight and I don't have any ideas for those two. Please don't kill me!

* * *


	9. Stale TV specials

* * *

Warnings: AtemuxHeba, mentions of other pairings, angst, spoilers.

* * *

**Stale TV specials: Heba**

**

* * *

  
**

It was just another day. Atemu and Heba were returning from their walk. It was nearly Christmas, and knowing that pained them both – though neither would say anything – since it would mean the time they'd have to separate would be even closer. That day they both dreaded already was merely a little over two weeks away. Still, they tried to enjoy their little time together as much as possible, being always together. Heba followed Atemu wherever he went, whether it was shopping for groceries or work. Not that the taller man minded, quite to the opposite. He loved every second of it.

It was snowing right now, and the two were walking in the middle of it, returning back to the house in silence and hands joined. Heba's eyes were slightly shadowed with sorrow, and they were staring at the ground, avoiding Atemu's gaze on him.

'I wish I was brave enough to say something. Or at least look at him.' Heba thought to himself. 'There are so many things I want to tell him, but…I don't want him to feel guilty about all the pain I've been through during this long life of mine. And if I don't talk about those things, there's pretty much nothing more left for me to say. There are so many things to avoid in a conversation with him that there's just nothing more to talk about. I haven't grown up at all…'

"Heba-" Atemu began.

"The snow is beautiful, isn't it Atemu?" Heba quickly interrupted the taller man, now looking at him and making sure to mask away his sorrow. 'It's so pure too. So unlike me…' he added silently inside his mind.

Atemu blinked softly, but then smiled tenderly. Heba felt his heart flutter just a bit. He had missed that smile so much. "Yes it is, beloved." Atemu gazed upwards to the snowflakes. Then, he looked down at Heba once more, this time with a bit more serious look. "But it can be dangerous too. It covers the ice on the ground. You need to watch where you're going, or you might slip and fall."

"Oh, Atemu, you worry too muuuuuch-!"

-

"It's not broken." Akunamkanon stated after he had examined Heba's now bandaged ankle. The softly tanned boy was sitting in front of him on the couch. "However, it appears to have got badly sprained. It should be okay though as long as you don't strain it too much for the next couple of days. Also, put an ice bag on it, it'll decrease the upcoming swelling and the pain."

"Okay. Thank you." Heba muttered softly.

"What does it mean that he 'mustn't strain it?" Atemu asked, standing at the living room doorway, leaning himself against the doorframes. Yami wasn't home yet, as he had probably gone out with his friends.

Akunamkanon looked at him. "Unfortunately he'll have to stay here and rest for the next couple of days. I'm afraid he can't leave this house unless absolutely necessary."

-

And that had been that. Heba no longer could go where Atemu went, so he was alone at the house for most of the day, when Atemu and Akunamkanon-san were at work and Yami-san at school. Atemu and Yami had brought him books, so he wouldn't get too bored, but Heba was a fast reader and had finished most of them in a single day. He was so used to reading much harder-to-understand texture from his magician study and spell books. He had to admit though, that the modern legends and stories in those books were fascinating. He had especially liked those adventures of that boy-magician, 'Harry'.

But after the two taller tri-colour haired boys had noticed how fast he read, they both had agreed they couldn't bring Heba new books every day, as there wouldn't soon be any left in the library. Instead, they decided to teach him how to use the thing they called 'TV' which was a box that showed moving pictures. Heba _somewhat_ knew how it worked and what it was, because he had an access to Yuugi's memories, but since the pale boy didn't know everything about the TV, that meant Heba didn't either. But he didn't like the boredom and the ever-continuing silence, so he had allowed the others to teach him how to use it.

He was right now watching a show called _Friends_, wrapped up inside a blanked (he wasn't quite used to the cold weather yet), his legs held against his chest. It was snowing in the show, and the blonde woman called 'Phoebe' was supposed to get married. Heba chuckled mildly, remembering his and Atemu's wedding. He remembered how shy he'd been feeling with everyone's eyes on him. They had all been judging him with their gazes. His and Atemu's relationship had been kept a secret until their wedding to most people, but when he had walked down the aisle, the people of the palace had found out. Those whispers around him had hurt so much. Heba could deal with the insults towards himself, but his heart couldn't take the fact they had said so many horrible things about _Atemu_. Because of _him_. It had felt awful.

And Mahado…his beloved Teacher. He had needed an escort to walk him down the aisle. He would've asked Jono to do it, but the fair-haired young man had been another important part of the ceremony already, as blessing his and Atemu's marriage, among with Atemu's father the Pharaoh, was his job. If a healer blessed a marriage, it was believed to bring good luck and health in that marriage. But as it had turned out, that hadn't really had that big effect.

But anyway, Heba had almost hated the fact it had had to be _Mahado_ who would escort him, despite him being the second best option. Heba had always admired the older man – he was about everything Heba himself had wanted to be. A powerful magician, strong, tall and good-looking. Mahado was also pretty much the only parental figure he'd ever had. As a really small child he'd lived with a woman his father had apparently left him with, because he had wanted to go and kill himself after his wife had died giving birth. The woman had been okay kind to him; she'd fed, clothed and given him a roof on top of his head in an exchange for just a little bit of work. But she hadn't loved him, hadn't been parental the way he had needed someone to be to him. Then he'd been kidnapped to slavery, and getting any kind of love or even tenderness there had been completely out of the question.

But Mahado had always protected him, taught him and been kind to him. But ever since he had got together with Atemu, Mahado had become so cold towards him, and had almost begun scaring him. He had still loved the older man, kind of in a way that was the mix of the ways you might love a brother and father. He'd been shattered when he had died. And then he'd found that letter and found out why Mahado had begun acting the way he had towards him…

Heba hugged his legs tighter against his body, and buried his eyes to his knees. 'Oh, Teacher…what you must've been through when you escorted me…it must've been killing you inside.' He thought. 'But still, I'm so selfish towards you…I can't bear to talk to you about _that_…'

"Heba, I'm home!" He suddenly heard Atemu's voice from the front door, and quickly rose his head back up and wiped his eyes.

"Welcome back." Heba told him, mentally congratulating himself for managing to keep his voice calm. Atemu pretty soon appeared at the living room doorway, walked to Heba and sat down next to him on the couch.

"What have you done today?" Atemu asked, smiling gently.

Heba shrugged. "Nothing much. Mostly just watched this show." He pointed at the TV. "There's a 'Christmas marathon' of it here on 'TV'. Or that's what they said."

Atemu turned to watch the television too. They sat there in silence a few moments.

Then Atemu asked: "Mind if I share the blanket with you?"

Heba smiled softly, holding the blanket side up. "Nope. C'mon."

Atemu pulled himself under the blanket with Heba, holding the smaller man around the waist and that way pulling him closer to himself. Heba leaned his cheek against Atemu's shoulder, and they both watched how Phoebe and her betrothed, Mike, got married. And several other episodes of _Friends_. Heba almost felt like crying when they saw Rachel had come back from the plane for Ross.

After the last episode was finished and the marathon of other series called _The Simpsons_ began, Heba spoke up: "You're early today."

"The boss let me off a bit earlier because I told my lover was home and hurt."

Heba huffed. "Atemu, it's not that bad. I've been through a lot worse." Heba immediately realised his mistake when Atemu's eyes turned slightly darker, so he hurried to continue: "I didn't mean it after you died! I was hurt way before that too!"

Atemu sighed, placing a soft hand on Heba's cheek. "You're just like before, beloved. You keep all your sorrows bottled up because you don't want to hurt me with them. That shouldn't be so, Heba."

Heba frowned. "Why are you always so nice to me?" he asked out of nowhere.

"Huh?"

"Why are you so nice?!" Heba yelled, looking up at Atemu with flaming eyes. "Why don't you doubt me?! Why don't you think I didn't cheat on you during these 3000 years?! Why don't you think I'm a whore who can't stay loyal, just like everyone else?!"

"Whoa, whoa, calm down now. What are you talking about? And who has dared to call you that?!"

'My old master.' Thought Heba, but out loud he answered: "Several people, after you died."

Atemu's eyes softened. "Don't hold back. Tell me everything about it. I want to know what has happened to you these past years. You don't have to tell me everything. Just the things you want to say."

"But I'm afraid that you…might not see me in the same light as before if you find out." Heba murmured, glancing sideways.

Atemu pulled Heba into a tight embrace. Heba blushed softly. "Heba, I know you've changed during these years. But to me, it doesn't matter. No matter how much you change, you're still _you_, and it's you I'm in love with. Nothing can change those feelings of mine for you. I just want you to be able to release the things that hurt you, even now. Maybe then, you'll be in a bit less of a pain."

Heba pulled his arms around Atemu as well, feeling tears coming up. This time however, he didn't even try to hold them back. He let them fall. Atemu rubbed his back comfortingly as he cried, and held him soothingly.

Finally Heba calmed down and pulled back from Atemu's arms. He quickly wiped the corners of his eyes, before looking straight into Atemu's eyes with determination. "Alright." Atemu smiled at him. "So, what do you want to know?"

"It doesn't matter. Tell me what you want to tell me. I'll ask you if I want to know more. But you don't have to answer if you don't want to."

Heba nodded, feeling somewhat relieved. He knew Atemu would never _really_ force him into something he didn't want to do, but being pressured by guilt was just as bad, if not worse. "Well…where should I begin…" He mused thoughtfully, a finger on his chin. "Well, as you know, after you died, Seth took over the throne with Mana as his queen. I continued my studies and became a priest for Osiris, kind of taking Seth's place as the Highest Priest in the court when I finally reached my full power. But…"

"Yes?" Atemu kindly encouraged him.

"Seth and I…we…well, you know I never really liked or knew him before all this happened. He sort of scared me, to tell you the truth. He had always been so strict and most of the times he made me feel like I had done something wrong when I was with him. But when I became his Highest Priest, we started becoming closer towards one another. After all, I understood what he was going through, living without the one he loved. We were able to comfort each other, and when I was with him I felt slightly better about life. We never had _that_ kind of relationship, though." He added after seeing the look on Atemu's face.

"But unfortunately, most people seemed to think that _was_ the case." Heba continued. "I would sometimes nightly visit Seth and Mana's room. The two of them never found out about it, but I had put a small spell on both of them to know when they were having nightmares. And when they would have those, I would secretly sneak into their chambers and soothe the dreams of the one sleeping restlessly, with my magic. But I'm guessing someone saw me sometime I went there, and thought Seth and I were…" He couldn't even bear to say it.

"Why only you and Seth? Why not you and Mana?"

Sorrow filled Heba's eyes. "Mana wasn't quite herself after Teana's death. She never completely recovered from it when she was still alive. It was horrible, to see such a cheerful girl change so drastically. She became so much quieter and even somewhat depressed. I don't think I ever heard her laugh anymore after that. Mana could be strong as long as Teana was there, comforting and supporting her, but with Teana gone, it seemed like Mana's strength had died too. I suppose she and I began drifting apart after that. I tried to be there for her as much as I could, but I always felt like she didn't want me there and preferred to be by herself. I guess we are similar in that; we both don't want anyone to see our tears when we cry."

Atemu gulped down his own tears of sympathy. Poor Mana. Then again, he guessed he should've been expecting something of that sort. Teana had been Mana's wife, and losing the one you were in love with never left you without at least some scars.

"So, I guess you can say that as Mana and I drifted further apart from one another, Seth and I became closer, and people easily made their own conclusions." Heba went on. "They didn't judge Seth for it – he was the Pharaoh and was allowed to have more lovers than just one – but about me…they said such awful things. I could heard them through my magic even when they thought I couldn't…they said I was betraying you and that I was a slut and a whore, and, and…" He couldn't go on. It still hurt so much remembering it. His voice broke, and he buried his face in his hands. He felt Atemu pull him into his arms again merely seconds later. The grip he held him with was slightly tighter than before.

"Those bastards…how dare they say such things about you?!" Atemu whisper-yelled into Heba's ear.

It took a while for Heba to regain his composure, but then he pulled back from Atemu again, took a few deep calming breaths and continued again: "They also began speaking I had probably cheated on you when you were still alive too. They said I had done it with Mahado…though I wonder where they heard about _that_. I never spoke about it to anyone…"

Atemu's eyes widened, and he grabbed Heba's shoulders into his hands. "You…know? About Mahado's feelings for you?"

Heba nodded sadly. "A few months after Teana's death, Seth came to me and Mana, telling they'd finally found Mahado's will. Apparently, as he had no other family alive anymore, he had left all of his property to us, his apprentices. I had nothing better to do that day, and needed some distraction, so I went to Mahado's room to check if there was anything I wanted to take with me. Mana and I had agreed we both would take the things we wanted the most – the rest we'd sell abroad and use the money to help the nation. I ended up finding a letter on his desk…it told everything. I finally understood everything, like why you had made him specifically my teacher and why he was always so cold to me after I married you…"

Atemu hugged him. "He actually didn't know I knew either." He murmured. "He was ill one winter, remember? Well, I went to see him to the healer chambers, and not knowing who I was in his fever, guilt-ridden Mahado told me he loved you. That he'd always loved you. But as you already were my lover by then, I knew there was nothing I could do to make him feel better about his feelings. If Mahado had known I knew he would've demanded me to have him executed, so I couldn't tell him about that either. So I asked Father to make him your teacher that he could easily spend time with you without being questioned about it, so that he would feel at least a bit better. I might've done wrong, but…I knew he would want to be near you, but also that he wouldn't touch you. He was simply too loyal for that. Besides, he'd taught me too in the past, so I also knew he would be a good teacher for you."

Atemu felt Heba shake his head against his shoulder. "You did nothing wrong. I do understand your motives. I just…I never knew or figured he felt that way about me. I almost thought he hated me, really. I can't even understand why he would feel that way about me…"

This time, Atemu was the one to pull back from the embrace first, and he took Heba's face in his hands. "I guess he saw the same things I did and still do, in you." He whispered as he planted a soft and loving kiss on the smaller man's forehead. "And what I see in you are your bravery, your determination, the fact you never give up no matter how bad things may seem…and you're not bad looking either." He finished with a wink, making Heba flush.

Then, the said one frowned. "I hated those comments. I felt like they were shaming Teacher's memory with them. I could deal with the things they said about me, but about _him_…that hurt so badly."

"Did you talk about that with Seth? Or about the comments about him and you?"

Heba shook his head. "I didn't dare. I was too afraid of what he might do to the people speaking those things if he had found out."

"What do you mean?" Despite being somewhat cool, Seth had most of the time been one of the most righteous men Atemu had ever met.

"Well, like Mana, Seth was never really himself anymore after Jono died, but in a different way than her." Heba explained. "He became a bit insane with his grief, really. He became a lot colder, crueller and more ruthless. He wanted to sent people to death for trying to steal food for their little starving children…" Atemu's eyes widened. It was almost like Kaiba had been back during the Four Game Masters and the Death-T times. "However, I often managed to make him think twice before doing anything like that. I sort of became his sanity – his balance – while Jono wasn't there, and when he was with me he seemed to be a bit more sane and himself and just…_there_. I couldn't always stop him, but…for the most part at least."

Atemu smiled comfortingly to him. "You might've done more for him than you ever realise. Maybe even saved his soul from Ammit."

Heba smiled a bit sheepishly. "Maybe."

There was a pause.

"What about Hondo and Mesi? What happened to them after my passing?" Atemu asked. Teana had been Hondo's cousin and Mesi's good friend, and Jono the guard's best friend. They couldn't have survived completely without grief either.

Heba answered: "To tell you the truth, I don't really know. If Mana and I drifted apart after your sacrifice, then I became complete strangers with Hondo and Mesi. I was present at their wedding, but they both just looked kind of depressed to me there. I thought it might've been just because of the grief for their losses – and on Mesi's part it probably was, too – but Hondo's story had a bit more behind it. But I won't go there, because I'm pretty sure he wants to tell you about it himself." Heba smirked a bit mysteriously as Atemu blinked. "They had three kids, those two. But about eleven years after your passing, Hondo got killed in a war. I was there too, at first, but I got hurt pretty badly in my first battle already and Seth sent me home after that – to protect the city and the palace, among Seth's family."

"And you just went along with that?" Atemu asked with surprise. He was shocked Heba had given up so easily. He was usually pretty stubborn.

Heba just shrugged. "I was injured badly and knew I would only be a burden at the battlefield if the others would have to carry and protect me all the time. At least back at the palace I could be some use as a Protector."

"What about Mana? Couldn't she have done the protection of the palace? Or on the battlefield?" Mana had also been a Protector.

"Mana never used her powers anymore after she fully learnt how to use them. Magic probably reminded her of Teana, who, as you know, had always been the most supportive of her studies. And she wasn't allowed in the battlefield because Seth and I were both afraid she'd just get herself killed on purpose." Atemu nodded. It was understandable. "I never really minded having to go back home, though. I was much more of a use there than I ever would've been on the battlefield. Besides, there I could protect the people dearest for me, and actually be a Protector…I suppose I might've been kind of selfish that way. Maybe I was just happy to be there because I felt like I was proving everyone wrong about me…"

"What do you mean by that?"

Heba frowned, shadows in his eyes once more. "Many people used to say about me that I was unsuited to be a Protector. That I should've been born a Fighter instead. They all said my soul was too dark to be a Protector's…"

"Well, they were wrong." Atemu said sternly, making Heba look up again. "I think everyone can be suited as a Protector, as long as they have someone or something precious to them that they want to keep safe and, well, protect. You had Mana, Seth, and Khemet."

"And Mahado-kun."

"Huh?"

"Oh, sorry, not _our_ Mahado. I mean Mana and Seth's son Mahado. He was the first one of their children to have magic, so they named him after Teacher. They later made me his magic teacher. A bit ironic, don't you think? He even looked like his namesake, with the long brunette hair. He also had those tattoo marks made under his eyes, like it was a tradition in Mana's side of the family – you know Mana and Teacher were distantly related(1). The only thing different really was that compared to Teacher's greyish violet eyes, Mahado-kun's eyes were clear blue like Seth's." Heba sighed a bit. "To be honest, I really maybe loved him a bit more than I should've."

"How come?"

"Well, I often felt like he loved _me_ more than his own parents. Mana was always a bit cool towards their kids, and Seth focused almost solely on his eldest son to make him learn everything he needed to know about being a Pharaoh…that's why, it was always _me_ who Mahado-kun came to when he needed help or comfort. And thought I tried to stop myself feeling that way, I slowly began seeing him as my own son as well. I always told him about you as bedtime stories, by the way." He smiled, but then frowned again. "But then, when Seth died and Mahado-kun's brother took over the throne…Mahado-kun left. He told me he'd go to protect your memory and secrets, so you could someday return and come to the afterlife. He stole Seth's Rod and Mana's Torque – that had been given to her after Isis' death – and left with his wife. I barely had time to bid him goodbye, and tried to stop him, but…I guess he just felt he no longer needed to be there. Mana had died already a decade before Seth, so…and he had no real duties at the palace, as he was not the one to inherit the crown and at times of peace, magicians weren't really needed. And so, even though it pained me, I let him go. That time was the first time he called me 'Dad'." He softly smiled.

"_D'oh!"_ said the TV at the background, but neither of the two men paid it any attention.

"And that's pretty much it for my life. I lived sometime longer after that, but nothing really special happened to me anymore."

"When you died…did you talk to our Mahado about his feelings for you?"

"Yeah." Heba nodded softly. "I told him I didn't mind him feeling that way about me – after all, I if who know what it is like to be in love with someone you can never have. But the topic of him loving me is kind of uncomfortable, so we don't really talk about it otherwise. I feel a bit guilty about it, since I think he should be able to speak about it with someone, but…I just don't know how to act when he admits he loves me, because I've never been a target to unrequited love before. Besides, even though I'm not in love with him, Teacher is still important to me and I'm afraid that I might hurt him even more if I accidentally say something wrong."

Atemu embraced him again. "It's alright. I'm sure he understands how you feel; Mahado is good at reading people. And there is nothing wrong with being uncomfortable in a situation like yours. It's completely natural."

"Then…you don't hate me for all these things?"

"Of course not. Don't be silly. If anything, I just hate myself. If I hadn't died, then-"

"Hush about that." Heba quickly interrupted him. "If you're not angry at me, you mustn't be angry at yourself either. I understand why you did it, and I would gladly go through all that again as long as I know I could still see you again."

"But-"

"I love you, Atemu." Heba put in.

Atemu blinked a little, but then held the smaller man a bit tighter. "And I love you, Desert Flower."

And then, they both started to cry and wept in each other's arms as the TV made the background noises.

-

When Yami came home a few hours later, he found Atemu and Heba sleeping on the couch together, leaning against each other and loosely cuddled up in a single blanket, while the TV was still on. At that sight, he murmured a quiet "Awww", before quietly sneaking to the room, shutting off the TV and pulling the blanket a bit better to cover the couple.

Afterwards he quietly walked out of the room, giving the two one last glance with a smile, before going upstairs to do his homework.

* * *

(1)Mana and Mahado both have those similar marks under their eyes, so I think they were a part of the same clan, or something. And because the males in the Ishtar family seem to have those too, I put them to Mana's son, so he could pass them on as a tradition to his descendants.

Errr…this was a bit…okay, a lot, besides its point too, but I hope it's okay anyway ^^;. I have to thank **Hime no Ichigo** for the idea of this chapter, since she suggested that "even though the TV is on the characters are clearly doing something else", although I'm pretty sure this wasn't exactly what she had in mind XD. But the idea felt good, and it was a great excuse to take a peek to Heba's life, since I've been wanting to write about that so badly it felt like my fingers were itching!

And yes, Mahado was in love with Heba. I have mentioned Priestess Isis had deeper feelings for Mahado, but I never mentioned if those feelings were returned or not, now did I? XD. And I've liked the idea of MahadoxYuugi/Heba pairing for a rather long while, especially one-sided, so it just came naturally to me.

Next is Singing Christmas carols, which is also up already now. It's quite a bit shorter than this one, but this was so long that I'm actually grateful for that.

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	10. Singing Christmas carols

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Warnings: Very mild hints of Siblingshipping.

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**Singing Christmas carols: Mokuba**

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**

This was just perfect! Nii-sama and Jou-Nii were both out, as they had went to a small date together, and most of the servants were already on their Christmas vacations. The ones that still were around, he had told to go clean the attic. Although they'd been confused about why they needed to clean the attic where no one usually went _now_, Mokuba had almost as much authority in the house as his older brother, so they did as told anyway. He was finally by himself.

A few weeks ago, the video game Mokuba had been dying for had come out, and he'd bought it with the money he'd saved. However, the problem had been that his big brother didn't especially like him playing 'those violent and ridiculous games', so Mokuba had needed to wait until the elder was out of the house before he could play it.

Jou had nothing against his video games – they had actually played some together until Seto had found out about that – but he usually listened to Seto's opinions first in when it came raising Mokuba, and unfortunately was a pretty good at when it came busting and telling things.

And so the preteen had needed to wait until both of the older boys were out of the house before he could play, and those cases were rare. When they were at school, Mokuba was also at school, and Jou was usually around most of the afternoon even when Seto was at work. Mokuba really liked the fact the blonde was living with them, and he loved him as a second brother, but he had to admit getting enough privacy was a lot harder when you have two big brothers than when you have just one.

So now, after checking one last time that he was alone, he went up to his room, put the game in is Play Station 3, and put it on.

He'd however only played for about few minutes, when someone rang the doorbell. He put the game at freeze, and went to see who it was, hoping it wasn't Jou already who had forgot his keys.

What he saw behind the door when he opened it however wasn't the blonde, but something else. A group of three young teens dressed in thick winter clothing and who had some notes in their hands.

"Mind if we sing for you?" A brunette girl with long hair and standing in the middle of the group, asked.

Oh. So it was just one of those groups that go from door to door and sing carols to bring joy to people.

"Sure." Mokuba replied.

The group sang a few traditional songs, such as "We wish you a merry Christmas", "White Christmas" and "Rudolf the rednose reindeer", before they thanked him for listening and left. Mokuba went back inside, shut the front the door behind himself and went back to play.

-

About a half an hour later, the doorbell rang again, and Mokuba went to see who it was. Another choir. He allowed them so sing to him again. However, this was a charity singing group, so he had to pay to them afterwards. He had nothing against charities, but it wasn't like he had asked them to sing to him.

-

Okay. This was starting to _really_ piss him off.

After the charity group, there had been at least five others, and most of them couldn't even sing that well! If this would keep up, he wouldn't even get to the next level in the game before his brothers came back home! It wasn't too long now until that, either…

A moment ago, the doorbell had rang again, and Mokuba was on his way to open the door once more. 'This time I'll tell them off. I'll say that I don't want them to sing to me. I want some privacy, here!'

And so, he practically slammed the door open, and as he was quite annoyed, he also ended up yelling: "Get lost, I don't need your singing here!"

"Uh…Mokuba-kun?" Came a soft and sweet voice of a girl, and only now did the black-haired boy realise to look who really was at the door. He recognised her as Shizuka, Jou's younger sister who lived out of the town with their mother. She was dressed in a long turquoise and elegant winter coat with white scarf around her neck and matching hat covering her head. In her hands she carried a full sports back.

"I-I'm sorry, Shizuka! I thought you were a choir! They've been bothering me all morning!" Mokuba hurried to explain, blushing in embarrassment for yelling at her.

But the girl just smiled, making Mokuba's heart jump into his throat for some reason. "It's okay. Onii-chan forgot to tell you I was coming today, didn't he? We agreed with him, Kaiba-san and my mom that I could spend this Christmas here with you guys."

At the back of his mind, Mokuba remembered Jou indeed telling him about something like that. "Oh, he did mention it, but I had forgotten. He's not here right now though, but come on inside. He and Nii-sama should come along soon."

The preteen moved from the doorway, allowing the girl to step inside. She set her sports bag next to the wall and began taking off her winter clothing. After she was done, there was an awkward silence.

Scratching his cheek with his finger in slight embarrassment, Mokuba spoke up: "Do you like games, Shizuka?"

"Yeah." The red-head replied shyly.

"Want to play something then until our brothers come back? I have some games up in my room."

"That's fine by me."

And so, Mokuba led his future sister-in-law up the stairs and into his room. But right when he stepped inside the room, he panicked. 'Ack! I forgot the video game was still on!' What if Shizuka would tell Jou, who would in turn tell Seto!? He'd probably be grounded for the rest of the holiday season!

"Hm? What's this?" Shizuka questioned, her eyes on the TV screen. "Is this that new video game? _The Mermaid Saga_(1)?"

"Y-yeah."

"That's so cool! My mother never lets me play any games like that back home! Can we play it?"

Mokuba mentally sighed in relief, before smiling up to the girl. "Of course!"

* * *

(1)I don't know any video games, so I just used the name of one Rumiko Takahashi's mangas. This is not a real video game, at least I don't think it is. _The Mermaid Saga_ was a horror manga, so I thought it was fitting for this.

THANK GOD for shorter chapters. This was pretty impossible to make any longer than this without it being extremely boring, so I hope no one minds ^^;.

Next is the extra chapter, which is the Amun Christmas Party, where knives fly, secrets are revealed, wishes come true and everyone kiss (maybe)! ^^.

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	11. Extra: The Christmas Party

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Warnings: Angst, shonen-ai, knives.

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**Extra: The Christmas Party**

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As soon as the Christmas Eve's morning arrived, the Amun household was full of running around and arrangements. It was today that they would be holding the party, and everything had to be ready when the guests would arrive. Atemu and Akunamkanon were cooking in the kitchen, and Yami and Heba were cleaning around the house. Although Heba still had to be careful with his ankle, he turned out to be a great help in the tidying. He was very effective in it. He told Yami he'd mostly done cleaning during his servant years, as he had needed to be given lighter work to do at the palace.

At lunchtime, the group of four males had a some sandwiches before they went back to their works. After Heba and Yami had finished all the cleanup, they began putting up the decorations and the Christmas lights to the ceiling. Yami put up the decorations as Heba handed them to him and held the ladder Yami was standing on still at the place, so they wouldn't waver and make the paler boy fall. After finished with that, they dug out the presents from where they'd been hiding them, and put them under the Christmas tree that they had decorated the day before. The normal lights in the living room were dim, and the gorgeous tree looked like it was sparkling with many colourful stars.

After the house was fully prepared, Heba went to help Atemu and Akunamkanon in the kitchen as he, too, could somewhat cook. Yami was left with nothing special to do, as he was completely banned from the kitchen. For that, he went to fetch an empty box big enough, some red and green wrapping paper decorated with golden stars, matching golden ribbon and some toilet paper to use so the thing he was going to pack in the box wouldn't waver inside it and break. Then he went up to his room, locked the door and started going through his closet. After a while he found the two things he'd been looking for. The smaller one of them he put into the box after wrapping it in the toilet paper. Then he enclosed the box, put the wrapping paper over it and finished the deal with the ribbon.

Afterwards he stood in front of the other thing he'd taken out. It was the home altar that he'd bought when he was 13. It was for that reason he had started to work at the Kame Game Shop in the first place. He had seen this altar in a store once, and had got the greatest urge to buy it in his mother's memory. He knew his allowance would've never been enough to buy it, so he had looked out for a job. Sugoroku had offered him one, and he'd accepted with gratitude. But he'd stayed working in the shop even after he had got enough money to buy the shrine, because he had found it very convenient. By working there he could earn more money, and got to spend more time around Yuugi without it being weird.

Yami smiled softly at his memories as he opened the small doors of the home altar, revealing some of its formal decorations, among with a picture of a woman in her mid-twenties sitting in a swing in a lovely, sunny and green garden. She was wearing a dark blue summer kimono decorated with cherry blossom petals, among with a light pink belt. She had azure blue eyes with the same shape as Yami's own, except maybe just a bit rounder and softer. Their faces were of a similar shape as well – slightly sharp – although the woman's also had round and cherry cheeks. Her hair was in the same colours as Yami's own, except that hers was down on her shoulders, with a small flower hair clip on the side of her head top as an adding. She was smiling gently and cheerfully to the camera.

"Hi mom." Yami began, speaking to the photo. "Merry Christmas." He smiled softly, sadly. His mother's grave was back in Egypt, and for that he had never had a chance to visit it after he had been just a boy. So he used this altar when he wanted to feel closer to his mother.

"Sorry I haven't talked to you for a while. It's been kind of busy lately, but I'm sure you already know that by now." He chuckled to himself. "I still really miss you mom, and so does dad although he won't say. I'm getting a bit worried about him, actually. The other day he told me that you had sent your love for me. I think he's getting a bit senile in his old age." He had meant it jokingly, but in truth his heart hurt in fear. His dad wasn't young anymore, and although Yami always tried to shake his thoughts away from it, he was terribly afraid Akunamkanon would die and leave him too before he was ready to be by himself.

"But anyway, I decided I'd give that thing you told me to give to my true love away this year. I hope you won't mind. But I don't think you will. Really mom, if you were here, I'm sure you would've loved Yuugi. You're a lot alike, actually. Kind, gentle and sweet, but also very stubborn and strong-willed, never giving up." He could feel tears beginning to sting in his eyes, but he didn't bother to wipe them away. After all there was no one to see him right now. What were a few more tears? "Still, I always wonder…what would you have thought if you were here now? Your only son, dating another guy…" He felt the tears roll down to his cheeks. "My heart tells me you would understand and even approve, but…I'm still so scared. What if you hadn't approved? What if you had wanted to try and stop us from dating each other? What if…" His voice broke off into hysterical yet quiet sobs.

Yami wasn't sure how long he'd spent crying when he heard a knock on his door, and Atemu's voice speak through it: "Yami, the guests will be arriving soon. You need to start changing your clothes."

"'Kay." Yami murmured back at his big brother figure, wiping his eyes and cheeks. He put the home altar back into his closet, and took out a clean pair of blue jeans and the dark violet jumper shirt his father had got for him. Atemu and Heba would be wearing similar ones, but in red and green colours. Yami changed from his worn clothes he had been dressed in while cleaning the house to the ones he'd picked out, took the box he had just wrapped into his hands and unlocked his door, stepping out.

Atemu stood right in front of the door, already dressed in his own red jumper and black jeans. Of course, he'd put some chains hanging from his pants and lying on his right hip, but Yami was still pretty glad he was just wearing regular black jeans instead of leather. Despite this being just a friendly gathering, he thought it was the best if all of them dressed somewhat appropriately.

Suddenly the look on Atemu's face became the one of concern and surprise. "Have you been crying?!"

"No!" Yami abruptly replied. He didn't want Atemu to ask why he had been wailing. He couldn't deal with confessing that to anyone. They'd just think he was stupid, and give him useless words of comfort, telling his mother would never think that way about him. But how could they know? They hadn't known his mother. Hell, Yami himself hadn't known his mother, he'd been so little back then. Otherwise he wouldn't be asking himself these things. He would've already known the answer.

Thankfully Atemu seemed to understand how he was feeling, so he didn't push it. "Come on then."

And Yami followed Atemu downstairs.

-

About an hour later, almost everyone had arrived. Yuugi and Sugoroku had been the first, as they lived only across the street. Yami had greeted Yuugi with a small kiss on the cheek and a hug, and shaken Sugoroku's hands as Atemu had hugged Yuugi as well, brotherly. Yuugi had then shaken Akunamkanon's hands. But when he'd come to Heba, he'd hesitated. He didn't exactly know the ancient boy that well, and Heba was staring at him pretty coldly. What would be the appropriate gesture?

To Yuugi's great surprise, Heba had walked over to him, and given him a small, but tight hug too, patting his shoulder afterwards and smiling slightly. Yuugi was sure that wasn't his truest smile, as Atemu had once told him that that smile could make anyone feel like angels were singing above you, but it had been quite beautiful nevertheless. He had smiled back with all he had.

Anzu and Mai had arrived next, soon followed by Honda and Otogi. Some ten minutes later came Jou, Kaiba, Mokuba and Shizuka among with the Ishtars. Femi, who had her short and messy hair tied slightly back by the pink ribbon at the back of her head – Ishizu's work no doubt – had happily glomped him (or more like his legs, as the girl was still so tiny) and given him her brightest smile, before going over to hug everyone else as well. By this time, about everyone had begun a conversation with someone and taken themselves some snacks and drinks.

It took about half an hour before the doorbell rang again, and Yami went to open up. Behind the door were the only people missing, Ryou and Bakura.

"Sorry we're late. We took a cab and got stuck in the traffic." Ryou politely explained.

"It's okay. And welcome." Yami replied with smile.

"Formalities aside, Prince. Got anything to eat?" Bakura spoke, smirking as Yami glared at him slightly, due the fact the taller man had called him by his unofficial and disliked title.

"Onii-chan! Behave yourself!" Ryou scolded.

Heba, who had been in the kitchen getting a second mug of hot chocolate, heard the voices in the hallway. His eyes widened and he felt the chills go through his body at the sound of Bakura's voice. It couldn't be…it possible couldn't…

He tip-toed to the kitchen doorway, and his eyes widened in awe and fright by what he saw. Though he tomb robber was looking paler, had longer hair, different colour of eyes and different style of clothes, there was no mistaking that hair colour and identifying the man he still sometimes saw in his nightmares.

Slowly, the look of fright in Heba's eyes turned the one of burning rage and hatred. He looked out in the kitchen for anything sharp – anything would do – and ended up grabbing the meat dagger left in the sink.

Then, with flames in his eyes, he ran out to the hallway, and threw the knife right straight towards Bakura, not even caring Yami and the smaller white-haired boy he briefly recognised from the day when he'd been brought back to this earth were in the way.

However, the knife thankfully didn't exactly hit anyone of them. It did drag Bakura stand right in front of a wall and next to the front door, and cut off quite a thick lock of his hair, but didn't do any real damage, despite scaring the heck out of Yami and Ryou.

"Bakuraaaa!" Heba spoke with rage-filled voice, his eyes still in the cold fire of hate as he panted.

"Well, if it isn't the little prince." Bakura said, seemingly unaffected by the fact he'd just nearly been knifed. "Ryou told me you were brought back to life for a while. But looks like you haven't changed. Still a shrimp, you are."

By now everyone had arrived to the hallway or the living room doorway, their attentions having been taken by the noises. It didn't take a genius to realise what had happened. But the realisation of that wasn't what sent the shivers down most of their spines. It was the cold look in Heba's eyes. It was hard to believe someone who looked so much like Yuugi could have such a great look of hatred so obvious in his eyes.

"Don't push it, thief." Heba spoke coldly. "I'm this close-" he showed about half a centimetre long distance with his index finger and thumb. "-from torturing you to death. But if you stay still nice and cool, I might just kill you without too much pain."

Bakura huffed, crossing his arms. "Like you are capable of killing me. You were pathetic in battling me 3000 years ago. Besides, I don't think the softie-Pharaoh's lover has the guts to kill anyone."

Heba's eyes hardened even more. "Don't underestimate me by what you saw in that battle." He spat out. "Or do you think I've just been slacking the past 3000 years? I'm in my full power now. And even though I've never done it unless I've really had to, I, to correct you, _am_ very capable of killing someone. It isn't something I haven't done before."

That was the final straw. Although Atemu would always love Heba no matter what, he certainly didn't want to know how many people he'd killed and why. So, he stepped up and went behind Heba, putting his hands on his shoulders.

"Love, please calm down-"

"Calm down?! _Calm down?!_ _**He killed Teacher!**_" Heba screamed, shaking his lover off and looking at him desperately over his shoulder. "And if he had never come to us, Akhenaden-sama wouldn't have ever revived Zorc and been possessed by him, so therefore he's also indirectly responsible for your, Jono and Teana's deaths!"

Jou immediately reacted, grabbing Seto's arm and therefore preventing his fiancé from going and killing Bakura right there with his bare hands. He knew Seto couldn't remember everything about their pasts, so this must've come as a new information for him. Indeed, the blonde felt Seto try and struggle away from his hold, but Jou kept holding him still firmly.

"Everything was supposed to be fine!" Heba continued, tears starting to form into his eyes, and he didn't even care that everyone could see them. "Your reign of ruling should've been the best in ages! We had so many magicians, and even a healer for the first time in 200 years! _But __**he**__ ruined it all_!"

"Heba, it's been 3000 years since then. How can your heart still cry out for revenge?" Atemu tried to reason with the smaller boy as calmly as he could. But deep down he knew it would be no use. Heba forgave people very badly, and especially those who had hurt the ones he cared about. Bakura had pretty much caused the deaths of many people dear to Heba, and by that hurt even the ones who had survived. Even Atemu himself often had troubles being around Bakura without feeling the immense need to slit his throat, despite the fact he knew he'd been possessed to do all those things…

By this time, Bakura had taken the knife Heba had thrown off the wall, and now threw it towards the softly tanned boy. However, he was taken off by surprise when Heba, who to him hadn't seemingly been paying attention, easily caught it between his index and middle fingers. And not even the look on his face winced. "You'll pay for that." Heba spoke rather calmly, but still so coldly that everyone in the room once more had to suppress shudders. Then, Heba out of nowhere rose his left hand. His hand was open and he began pointing its palm towards Bakura, and somehow making him get slammed against the wall.

'I…I can't move!' The former thief thought in awe. He tried to fight back with his own magic, but found it was no use. The spell Heba had on him was way too strong. 'That kid is no ordinary magician!'

"Say goodbye." Heba spoke, raising the hand in which he held the meat dagger.

"Onii-chan!" Ryou yelled, quickly clinging to Bakura's still body.

"Get…away…Ry…" The taller white-haired boy managed to mutter. "He'll…kill you…too…"

"No! I'm not allowing us to get separated again! I won't live on without you! I won't lose you again!"

Unknown to the two, Heba's eyes slowly softened as he watched them. He lowered his knife, and motioned the hand he was holding up to hold Bakura still towards another wall instead, therefore stopping the spell. Bakura fell off the wall limp and into Ryou's arms, slightly weakened.

"Heba…" Atemu murmured.

But the said boy gave him no explanation. He merely began walking towards the living room.

"Wait!" Bakura yelled. Heba stopped. "Why didn't you kill me?"

Heba turned around, looking straight at the thief. "Don't think it's out of mercy for you. In my eyes, you don't deserve any." He spoke coolly. "You can only thank the one holding you even now for the fact you get to keep your life. He loves you – why, I probably won't ever understand, though – and I don't want to make him suffer by losing you, or kill him with you. Like I said, I only kill if absolutely necessary, and in my eyes he is completely innocent. He doesn't deserve to die just because he doesn't want to live without you. And even if he did want that, believe me Bakura, I know what it is like to live without the one you love. I've seen what it did to Seth and Mana, and I've felt it what it did to myself. He doesn't deserve it just because you deserve to go to hell in my eyes. In truth, I probably wouldn't even give you that punishment if it were up to me. No one deserves that. It's the worst punishment imaginable."

With that he began walking off again. But then he suddenly stopped, rose his hand into the air and clicked his fingers. With that click, the straw of Bakura's hair that had been cut off grew back, looking just as it had been before.

-

After that incident, the evening progressed pretty peacefully. Bakura did wisely and stayed at least two metres away from Heba at all times. He had to admit, the younger man had scared him rather badly back in the hallway. He definitely hadn't been slacking all these years. He was a man now, not a boy. A full mage, not a student. And a really powerful one at that. He had probably surpassed his Teacher years ago already, and Mahado had actually been one of the few people who had managed to frighten Bakura with their skills.

Heba was at the moment sitting on the couch, sipping his orange drink. Yuugi, who had just come from the kitchen from getting some food, spotted him. He hesitated for a moment, but then began approaching the tanner boy. If he truly wanted to be friends with him, he couldn't always chicken from the chances to speak to him, no matter how intimidating the ancient one could at times be. Besides, if the older boy would question him about it, he had an excuse in his pants pocket.

When he reached Heba, the said boy looked up to him. "Hey." Yuugi greeted.

"Hi." Heba greeted back, softly, but not coldly. Good sign, Yuugi guessed.

"Can I sit here?"

"If you want."

It wasn't a complete acceptation, but not rejection either, so Yuugi seated himself next to Heba, watching the older boy sip his drink again as he poked his food with his fork. The silence was awkward.

"You did really greatly." Yuugi began. Heba looked up. "You know, by sparing Bakura's life."

"Don't think I'm some sort of saint because of it. Like I said, I only spared him because of his lover. In my eyes he would've deserved to die. And like I said I _have_ killed in the past."

Yuugi felt really uncomfortable thinking about the lives Heba had taken, although he was sure deep down that Heba had only taken them for a greater good. So he decided to change the subject: "How is your ankle? Yami told me you sprained it."

"It's better, thanks." Heba replied. Yuugi smiled at him, but Heba didn't return it. "I've had worse pain."

"Why do you have to turn every conversation into such a depressive one?" Yuugi whispered to himself. He hadn't meant for Heba to hear it, but…

"I'm sorry." Heba said, blushing in embarrassment. Yuugi looked quite surprised at the red on his cheeks. He had had no idea Heba was capable of blushing. The other boy always seemed so calm and collected…"You don't need to keep me company if I'm speaking about things you can't handle. I understand. You're so pure, you care about every human being on this earth. And I'm just…dark."

"I didn't mean it exactly like that." Yuugi hurried to explain. "But I just don't really understand you at all. One moment you seem so warm, the next so cold…why do you act like that?"

"It's something I can't tell you." Heba responded, but his voice didn't sound angry at the question. "I haven't told it even to Atemu."

"Why not?"

A sigh. "I'm afraid what he might think of me if he knew." Heba answered, his eyes suddenly much darker. But this time not with anger but with immense sorrow. "Atemu is everything to me. Living without him because of his sacrifice was hard enough, but I know I wouldn't be able to take it if he ever left me because he was disgusted by me or didn't love me anymore. I don't know what would happen to me then, really. I can't die, since I'm already dead. But I do think I would break so badly that my soul would just wander into nothingness that holds nothing but pain and torture."

Yuugi frowned. Heba really did love Atemu. He'd proved that many times enough already, but it still didn't cease to amaze Yuugi. He wondered if he really did love Yami as much as Heba clearly loved Atemu. Would he really be ready to go through such awful things just to be with him?

Heba's voice interrupted his thoughts: "But if you want to know why it's _you_ specifically that I act strangely around…I think I can answer that."

Yuugi looked up. "Really?"

Heba nodded softly. "You just…remind me of what I could've been. You're so open, so sweet and innocent. And you show your affection so easily, whether it is to your friends, family or Yami-san." He quietened for a minute. "I was never like that. I'd like to think I ceased to be normal only after _that _thing happened, but deep down I know it's not true. I was always misplaced inside. I can't express my love well because I was never loved as a child. Even after Atemu and I were married, I was still so scared around him. I wanted to touch him so badly and feel close to him, but I wasn't sure whether that was appropriate or not. And it broke my heart every time I was with him. I wanted so much to show him just how much he truly meant to me, how much I truly wanted him to stay with me, but…everything that had happened to me in my past just always stopped me."

Yuugi wasn't sure what to say. He was afraid to say anything, really. He felt that anything he'd say might just hurt Heba further, and he didn't want that. And so, as he couldn't say anything, he merely leaned to wrap his arms around Heba in a friendly and comforting fashion. He was surprised to find Heba hugging him back tenderly. Yuugi rubbed Heba's back soothingly. They hugged there for a moment, before parting.

As Yuugi looked up to Heba's face, he found the ancient boy smiling at him. His eyes widened slightly at the sight. Heba's smile was so…honest. So soft and tender. This was his true smile, his true face. Though shocked, Yuugi smiled back.

"Oh! I almost forgot!" Yuugi then suddenly exclaimed, taking out a small packet from his pants pocket. "Here, I got this for you. Merry Christmas."

Heba took the gift, looking stunned. "You got me a present?"

"Of course! Why wouldn't I have?"

Heba smiled at him again, this time even more tenderly. "Thank you very much." He said, rather formally.

Yuugi blushed a bit, feeling a bit shy all of a sudden by Heba's kindness. "You're welcome. Open it, I want to see what do you think of it."

And Heba unwrapped the gift, finding a slim white box inside. He opened it. Inside the box was a black necklace that was to be worn right around his neck like a slim collar. From it hung a small golden upside-down pyramid, resembling the Millennium Puzzle.

"So you can always remember Atemu when you're separated." Yuugi explained, as Heba could do nothing but stare at the necklace. Then, the older boy slowly took it into his hand, and began putting it around his neck.

"It's lovely. Thanks, Yuugi-kun." Yuugi beamed brightly at the informal manner Heba was speaking to him.

A bit farther, Atemu and Yami were looking at their lovers with smiles.

"Looks like they're getting along well." Atemu said softly.

"Yeah." Yami replied. He knew what kind of effect Yuugi had on people. He could melt the ice around anyone's heart. That was one of the many reasons Yami loved him so much.

Atemu then put his lips on his cup, which was coke, and drank very fast.

But almost right the moment he'd put the liquid into his mouth, he split it out, turning everyone's attention on him. The carbonic acids had been burning his mouth so badly he hadn't even been able to swallow the drink. "What the crap is up with this stuff?!" He yelled out loud.

On his seat, Heba was staring at his lover, who was looking startled and still had some coke running down the side of his mouth and dropping off his chin, with wide eyes. He stared…stared…and…

Cracked up laughing.

"Ahahahahaha!" He laughed, now turning everyone's attention on him instead. He pointed at Atemu, still laughing, and holding his stomach. "Y-your face…" he managed to mutter between his chuckles.

Everyone could do nothing but stare as he laughed. It was the most beautiful sound anyone of them had ever heard. Heba's laughter was pure, honest and sweet sound nothing could compare with. There was nothing pretended in that laugh. Among with the sight of his smile, Atemu couldn't even bring himself to be upset that Heba was laughing at him. He was just so happy right now…to finally hear that sound again.

-

Sometime later, someone knocked at the Amun front door. Yami went to open up, although he was confused. Everyone was already here, so who could it be? Not Santa now, would it?

He opened the front door slightly, but saw no one. Instead, when he looked down, he saw some_thing_. A rather big present standing in front of him. It was wrapped in white paper covered with yellow stars, and decorated with lavender ribbon.

'No way? It really was the Santa?' He joked to himself, and then bent down to read the card attached to the ribbon. "To: Femi Ishtar" it read.

'For Femi-chan, eh?' Yami thought to himself, as he grabbed the present, and dragged it inside. "Malik!"

"_Yes?"_ was his reply from the other room.

"Can you bring Femi-chan to the hallway for a while?"

"_Sure!"_

After a while, the father and the daughter arrived, the latter holding the first one's hand, or more like hanging from it. It was kind of cute, Yami thought. Sometime, he'd like to adopt a kid too…someday.

Yuugi followed after the two, obviously curious to see what was happening. Yami blushed a bit at seeing him, shaking off his previous thoughts.

"What is it, Yami?" Malik asked, tilting his head.

"This." Yami pointed at the present. "It's for Femi."

Femi stared at the present for a moment. But then her face spread into a wide grin. "Oh wow! It's huge!" She exclaimed, letting go of her father's hand and rushing to the gift. "Can I open it Daddy? Please, please, please!"

Malik just chuckled. "Of course you can."

"Yay!"

As Femi started unwrapping the gift, Yuugi asked. "Who's it from?"

"I don't know." Yami shrugged. "The card only says it's to Femi, but it doesn't say who sent it."

"Strange…" Malik muttered to himself, his chin in his hand. Then, he started looking quite frightened. "What if it's something dangerous?! Like a bomb or something?"

"I don't think so. It's not ticking. Besides, why would someone want to send a bomb to Femi-chan? She's only three, she can't have done anything to hurt anyone, right?"

Malik laughed a little, sounding embarrassed. "I guess so, sorry. This parent stuff is starting to get to me…"

"It's alright. That's natural, right?" Yuugi asked, smiling at the blonde.

"Wow…!" Femi's voice took the attention of the three teens. "It's…it's…it's my dolly!" The girl exclaimed in surprise and happiness, pulling out the doll she'd seen at the store window from the packet, and hugging it tightly.

"But how…?" Malik voiced what they were all thinking, approaching the packet the doll had been in. He peaked inside it, and what he saw gave him quite a surprise, as he took it into his hands. "My wallet…"

"Say what?!" Yami cried out. Then he took a deep breath to calm himself. "Was anything stolen from it?"

"No, all my money is here…" Malik muttered, exploring the wallet. But then, something caught his eye inside the thing, and his eyes widened. "Guys, look at this." He took a piece of paper from inside the wallet, and handed it over to Yami. Yuugi also leaned to look at it over his lover's shoulder. They were both shocked by what they saw.

On the paper was drawn a very accurate-looking picture of the Millennium Rod.

"Malik, this is…" Yuugi murmured.

"Yeah." The tanned boy replied shortly, wiping the corners of his eyes from the happy tears. Then, he took a glance outside from the front door window. 'It's snowing…snow is winter's rain. Femi came to me when it was raining. Maybe you're a bit closer to me during the times it rains, my beloved.'

And with that, he smiled serenely.

-

The evening progressed slowly. After everyone were full, for some reason Heba called everyone around himself to the living room.

"Most of you in this room were helping to get me back, even for this little while, and for that I am grateful." He told them with a small, grateful smile. "That's why, I want to give a special gift to all of you. And also because you've all been so good to Atemu while I haven't been here."

With that, the ancient boy rose his hands to the air, and began to move them in slow but elegant movements. As he did this, something dark slowly started forming around his arms and hands. The shadows. They softly left him and rose up to the air, to the near-ceiling, starting to dance there. Among with the dancing, everyone could hear a quiet, calming melody being sung by the shadows. It was sung in a mysterious and strange language none of them had heard before. But the song was so beautiful and peace-bringing that it didn't really matter whether they understood the words or not.

As Heba moved his hands again, the shadows danced some more. His eyes were only half-open and looking serious. There was a strange cloudiness and glow in them, as if he'd been in some kind of trance.

No one knew exactly how long the show lasted. Just that that after it ended, they all felt at peace. It felt as if all their worries had been lifted away.

Heba, however, was looking as serious as ever.

-

Later, Heba had asked Akunamkanon to come to the kitchen with him.

"You need to tell Yami something." The ancient boy began.

"About what?" Akunamkanon asked, a bit confused. What was this all of a sudden?

"About his mother. Yami-san is worried that his mother wouldn't approve of his relationship with Yuugi-kun if she was here."

"How do you know that?" Akunamkanon questioned, startled.

"When I was playing with the shadows earlier, I was connected to all of your minds. I didn't mean to peek, but this emotion was so strong in him that it forced itself through to my soul. You need to confront him about it, before the evening ends. Otherwise he won't do something very important."

Akunamkanon frowned. "But…"

Sympathy filled Heba's eyes, and he placed a soft, comforting hand on the older man's arm. "I understand that it is painful to you. Really, I do. I've lost the love of my life too." He said. "But you have something left behind to this world by your love, something I didn't have. And he needs you right now. He needs to know what his mother really would think of his relationship with Yuugi, and you're the only one who can tell him that. The only one who knew his mother well enough to." And with that, Heba walked out of the room, not looking back.

Akunamkanon stood still for a moment, dumbfounded. But only for a moment. After that he walked out of the kitchen and to the living room doorway. "Yami, could you come over here for a second?"

Yami, who had been chatting with Anzu, looked up, soft confusion visible in his eyes. "Sure dad."

Yami followed his father to the kitchen. He didn't even have the time to ask what was it, when Akunamkanon said: "Yami, do you honestly think your mother wouldn't approve of your relationship with Yuugi-kun?"

"Huh?" That had come so suddenly. And how had he known? "How do you know about that?"

"It doesn't matter." Akunamkanon responded. "Just let me tell you a little story, Yami.

"Your mother and I had a lot of trouble getting a child at the beginning of our marriage. It was tough for us both, but Haruka was the one who suffered the most of it. She was so sad, thinking something was wrong with her because she wouldn't get pregnant. I tried to comfort her that most likely it was me who was causing the troubles, as I was already getting a little old, and…well, you know." Yami blushed.

"But when your mother finally got pregnant with you, she was thrilled. She would spend hours talking to you in her stomach, already deciding to call you Yami by then. However, after a while there came up some…complications." Yami blinked.

"Your mother wasn't too young anymore. She was already 30. Plus, she shared your small figure. The doctors told her the birth would be extremely painful to her, and that it might kill her. But she just said she didn't mind. She told them and me that she'd wished to have a child for so long that she wasn't going to give this one up to spare herself from the pain."

He paused. "Then came your birth time, and she spent almost two days in labour to get you into this world. I honestly thought she _would_ die from all the pain, but she had always been a fighter and managed to pull it through. If the fact how much pain she went through by bringing you into this world doesn't tell you how much she loved you, and always would love you, I don't know what will."

Yami felt tears in his eyes. He bent his head down to hide them. "I know…I never really told you what really hit me so badly in mom's death, did I?" Akunamkanon blinked. "The day mom died, I was sitting at the hospital seats across mom's room, while you were getting drinks. Mom was still alive at the time, but just barely. I was scared and confused, and didn't understand what was happening to her. Then I overheard some nurses talking. They were coming to take care of mom. They said things like: 'Poor thing. She's still so pretty young too', and the other replied to that: 'This is exactly why I always say giving birth when you're over 30 is a bad idea. It weakens the body immensely'." Akunamkanon's eyes widened. He had had no idea…

"Less than hour later, mom was dead. I was always so sure…it had been my fault. That probably hurt the worst. Mom was a good person…she didn't deserve to die. That's why…I thought I had killed that gentle person, when I couldn't find any other reason why she would've died." Yami said nothing more, as his father pulled him into a strong hug. Being somewhat shorter than his father, Yami's head only his father's chest like this, but he didn't mind. He just cried.

"It wasn't your fault, Yami." Akunamkanon whispered. "Haruka…wasn't ill. Not exactly. She had cancer. And although I'm not a doctor, I don't think giving birth can cause that. Those nurses didn't know what they were talking about." Yami looked up slightly. He'd never learnt exactly what his mother's illness had been. "Besides, even if it _had_ been your fault, I don't think Haruka would've minded. I think she would've gladly given her life for you. She really loved you Yami. Believe me when I say. And no matter what kind of choices you make with your life, she always would. And so will I."

Yami nodded to his father's chest, feeling a lot better now. He cried a few moments more, before slowly calming down.

"Thanks dad." He smiled at the older man.

-

By the time midnight arrived, everyone thought it was better that they started getting home. The Ishtars left first, as Femi was still so little that she had ended up falling asleep on one of the armchairs in the living room, her new doll curled tightly into her arms. Ishizu had of course at first scolded her little brother, thinking he'd bought it against her will, but when all three; Yami, Yuugi and Malik himself confirmed her that wasn't the case, she had believed them.

Jou, Kaiba, Shizuka and Mokuba left next, as the younger ones were also starting to get pretty sleepy. Jou wished them all merry Christmas, as he invited them to the New Years Party at the Kaiba Mansion. When Yami had asked how he had managed to convince Kaiba to hold a party, the blonde had merely winked slyly at him, and said: "Secret!"

Yami decided he didn't really want to know.

Honda, Otogi, Ryou and Bakura left next, Otogi offering the 'brothers' a ride home. Bakura had protested, but everyone knew he couldn't resist Ryou's puppy dog eyes.

Yami called a cab for Anzu and Mai, so they wouldn't have to walk in the snow in the middle of the night. Although knowing Mai, she could probably easily kick the ass of any pervert or drunk that would try to harass either one of them.

Finally, it was just him, his dad, Atemu, Heba, Sugoroku and…Yuugi. Yami felt his heart start beating faster and his face get heated up.

"Well, we're off to bed." Atemu said, picking an already-sleeping Heba up into his arms in bridal style. The littler tanned boy had fallen asleep on the couch. "Good night everyone. And Merry Christmas Yuugi, Sugoroku-san."

"Merry Christmas Atemu." The two replied with smiles.

Noticing his son's blush and nervous quietness, Akunamkanon also retired into his own bedroom. Noticing the same, Sugoroku quietly exited the house, telling Yuugi to follow after him, and walked across the street to his own home.

Now that the two young lovers were alone, Yami was getting even more nervous. But he knew he had to do this.

"Wait here." He said, and walked to the living room and to the Christmas tree. From under it, he took two presents, one bigger and one very slim and small. Then, he came back to his beloved, and presented him with the smaller gift and a crimson face. "Here. Merry Christmas, Aibou."

Now Yuugi blushed too, but took the gift with a soft "Thank you." He opened it with shaky fingers, revealing a slim white box. He opened it. Inside was a small necklace. It had the Ancient Egyptian Ankh-cross on a silver chain, with a note: _"For you, who gives me a reason to live._

_Love, Yami"_

"Y-Yami…this is so beautiful…thank you…" Yuugi murmured, taking the necklace into his hand, feeling happy tears in the corners of his eyes.

"A-Aibou, please don't cry. You know I hate it when you do…"

"Silly, these are happy tears." Yuugi murmured, wiping his eyes, and putting on his new necklace. Then, he reached for his bag that he had left to the hallway earlier. He started going through it, and took out a small white bag tied closed with a violet ribbon. He handed it over to Yami, who began opening it with a flush and slightly wider eyes. What he saw inside was a really cute Black Magician doll. He took it slowly into his hands.

"Returning the favour from my birthday." Yuugi explained with a small embarrassed smile.

Yami stared at the doll in awe for a rather long while, before he hugged it to his chest. "It's really lovely. Thanks, Aibou."

"You're welcome." Yuugi smiled a bit more widely.

But then, Yami's eyes widened in shocking realisation, and he abruptly grabbed Yuugi's wrist, staring at his fingers. "Yuugi…is this why you had all those cuts in your fingers? Did you make this yourself?"

Yuugi frowned in slight shame. "Y-yeah…I wanted to surprise you."

"You shouldn't have done it. I'm not worth of you getting hurt."

"Yes you are!" Yuugi suddenly yelled, holding his head up again. But then he got embarrassed by his outburst. "Sorry." He murmured as he shyly looked sideways, blushing and rubbing the back of his neck. "But it wasn't really that bad. After Atemu helped me out and gave me tips, I no longer stung myself. The cuts have already healed too."

Yami softly placed his hand on Yuugi's cheek, making him look up again. Yami's eyes looked so tender to him, so full of love…"I just hate you getting hurt. Especially if it's because of me."

Yuugi merely stepped forward and pulled Yami into a hug. "You're worth it."

Yami held him back, nuzzling his head on the smaller boy's shoulder. There they stood for a while.

After a moment, Yami pulled back. "I have one more present for you." He stated softly, and picked up the present he had wrapped in the morning. He handed it to Yuugi, who curiously observed it for a while, before starting to open it. The wrapping paper revealed another box, which he opened.

"A glass ball?" He voiced quietly, taking the said object from the box. It was pretty large, probably as tall as his face, and somewhat heavy too. He made sure not to drop it. Inside the glass ball was a small blonde girl-angel dressed in white, and smiling gently at him. The pedestal the ball was attached on was light green and decorated with plastic rose vines. It was truly beautiful.

"It's not just a glass ball. May I have it for a moment?" Yuugi handed him it, and to his surprise Yami turned it upside down and put his hand on it's bottom, starting to move it in circles. A small creaking sound was heard as he did. When he was finished pulling, he turned the ball around once more. The angel inside the ball had started swinging around in circles, and a soft melody of a song Yuugi didn't recognise could be heard.

"It's a music box?" The smaller boy asked in awe as Yami handed the ball back to him.

"Yeah." Yami nodded. "My mother gave it to me when I was little."

Yuugi's eyes widened. "Then I can't possibly take it from you! If it was given to you by your mother…!" he stopped when Yami grabbed his hands, preventing him from giving him the ball.

Yami shook his head. "I think she would've wanted you to have it." He paused for a moment, before he began: "Mom was always sickly, or as long as I can remember. She always went in and out of the hospitals."

He paused again, as if to think what to say next. "When I turned four, I think she already knew she was going to die soon. She used to say a bunch of stuff I didn't understand, like that she would always be there even if I couldn't see her, and that she was sorry for something…and her visits to the hospital became slightly more frequent, until she eventually had to move there permanently."

He took in a breath. "But before she did, she ordered this from a store in Switcher Land. The song you hear is called 'Santa Lucia', or 'Saint Lucia'. It's pretty famous in Europe, I think. Mom used to sing it to me instead of lullabies when I couldn't sleep. She had always been interested in other cultures, and had learnt this song in French while taking French lessons in High School." He explained. "She gave me this before she left to the hospital permanently, and told me to listen to it when I would miss her singing to me. But, she also said: 'Listen to it only until you really need it. And when you don't, give it to the person who made you not need it anymore'." He smiled tenderly at Yuugi. "I haven't listened to it for almost half a year now, not since we first began dating. That's why I want you to have it."

Deep blush covered Yuugi's face now. Not only because of Yami's words, but also because Yami had for the first time in the 12 years they had known each other, told him about his mother. He felt so utterly honoured. But then, a small insecure feeling reached his brain. "Do you think…your mother would've approved our relationship?"

Yami pulled the smaller boy into his arms again. "I was scared about that too. I was really afraid I would've made my mother ashamed of me. But according to what dad told me, I think she would've approved. She would've only wanted me to be happy." He paused. "Before she died, mom said she was sad she couldn't be there to prepare me for my first date, nor ever meet the one I had fallen in love with. She never spoke about that person as a 'she'. I always had the feeling like mom knew more than she should've…so maybe she did guess I would never be interested in girls."

Yuugi pulled slightly back from the embrace, so he could look at Yami's face. "Your mother sounds like a wonderful person."

"She was." Yami smiled softly.

"I wish I could remember my parents…" Yuugi's parents had died in a car accident when Yuugi had been only two, so he didn't have many memories of them.

Yami pulled him closer once more. "I don't really remember much about mom either. I just treasure the memories I have, and keep them close to my heart."

Yuugi held Yami a bit tighter as well. "Then that's what I'll do too."

After that statement, the two boys pulled a bit further to look into each other's eyes again. They slowly leaned their faces closer to each other and closed the gap into a soft but passionate kiss, clinging to each other tight.

After they parted, they slowly let go of each other, and Yami walked Yuugi to the door.

"Good night. And Merry Christmas." Yami said, and hesitated for a moment, before adding: "I love you." He was still a bit embarrassed when it came to saying those three words.

"And I you. Merry Christmas, Koibito." Yami was slightly shocked. Yuugi had never called him with any sorts of pet name before. But 'Koibito'…he kind of liked that. He quickly pecked Yuugi's lips once more before the smaller boy exited the house.

Yami also retreated to his room, and changed into his pyjamas, getting under the warm covers of his bed with a wide grin on his face. This had been a very merry Christmas season indeed.

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Okay, this chapter was pretty Yami, Yuugi, Atemu and Heba centred, but I just love those four so much that I can't help it!

Whoa, I put many people crying, didn't I?

Heh, you didn't think Heba wasn't still angry with Bakura, now did you? :D. Bakura technically DID kill many people dear to Heba after all. Heba's attacking could've had another turnout too, in which Bakura tells him: "Why are you doing this? To ease your conscious of the knowledge you couldn't save them all, even though you're supposed to be both Protector and Visionist?", and Heba would break down at that. But it would've needed a real fight for the two of them, and I kind of wanted Heba to show how strong he is, and also the fact he has become righteous in his many years. So chose that other turnout of events.

Please, PLEASE don't comment on Haruka's-illness-thing! I'm not a doctor! I don't know anything about what can cause cancer and what can't! Please don't correct me if I'm wrong! I don't want to be embarrassed about it!

Waah! Sorry for the delay! I actually wrote this ages ago already, but the idea of sacrificing my precious computer time to editing it didn't feel appealing . I'm so sorry!

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